Posts

Making The Right Choices

Image
A screenshot of visitor countries to my blog. There are more countries. This is an unusual way of telling the story, but I am going to fly by the seat of my pants by just jumping in without a structure or an outline and just go with the flow for a start anyway.  When I was young, I witnessed some extremely traumatic things which I can’t share here because, if I shared them, they would put some people in a bad light and certain things are best kept unsaid. Thankfully, I am still able to do that! Many people blame their past or upbringing or circumstances or parents for the way they turned out. They are just good at excuses. When things happen to us, we still have the power to respond in the way that we choose instead of reacting negatively. As I said, what happened was traumatic. I thought that my father loved my brother more than me because he was very clever, and he was the first-born son. When I did something wrong, I was sometimes about to be exterminated (or so I thought becaus...
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Progress

Image
 The book that I have been writing has suffered a few setbacks but that does not mean that I gave up. I started this project more than three years ago and have been determined to continue with it until it is published. The last hurdle was that I was told that the company I worked for was sold and that I should rather rethink the contents and name of the book because there might be complaints about them from the new owner. So, I obviously was not going to test that issue. I started changing things again for the third time because I wanted to finish my book. It sounds easier said than done but lots of determination and thinking enabled me to get to a good place with the idea of the book and the title which freed me from trying to stick to one topic. I am considering making the font on the cover bolder but I think the picture is not too bad.  Any journey usually involves taking a suitcase of sorts along to carry your luggage in. That is the reason for the suitcase on the cover. I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Brazil

Image
  I went into my blog stats to see where my visitors were coming from – in the last week anyway. It was a fantastic surprise to learn that most of the visitors this past week came from an awesome country called Brazil. I googled the Amazon jungle, and it confirmed what I suspected.   Almost sixty percent of the Amazon rainforest lies in Brazil. When I was very young, I watched a movie that was filmed in the Amazon and always loved the place. It is a fascinating place and also the largest tropical forest in the world. I once read that the storms in the Sahara lift up tons of dust which get blown by the circulating air currents and a lot of them land in the Amazon. I googled this and I got my confirmation: “Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant proteins and growth, which the Amazon rain forest depends on in order to flourish.” (Link: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/calipso/nasa-satellite-reveals-how-much-saharan-dust-feeds-amazons-plants/ ). It is so good to know that an...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Better Picture (And Book)

Image
  It has been a while since I last wrote an article. I have been quite busy with a number of things, especially the changes needed for my book. Just when I was trying to put it online three things happened in quick succession to derail the whole project. The app that I was using to display the book online gave me two problems. First, it would not allow me to upload my changes anymore. Second, it did not function properly when the shopping cart also did not work. When I contacted them for explanations, they just gave me excuses. They did not provide me with any solutions. Just after that, I was told that the Frasers brand was sold a number of years ago and that it would be advisable to rather not write about that company. After all the effort I had put into the book glorifying Frasers and the people that worked there, I had to discard a lot of my material. So much for the glory days of that company – very sad. Unfortunately, some of my friends might be disappointed about that and mi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watercolour Painting Habit

Image
  Yesterday was Sunday and we were relaxing at home. I decided to do a quick sketch and paint it with watercolour paint. I didn't want to create a masterpiece or do something complex. I chose a picture on Pinterest because it looked easy to practise with. I also didn't want to use expensive paper either. The picture above is the result of my efforts. I first did the sketch in pencil and then added the blue and grey watercolour paint. Since it was just a little exercise I grabbed my Faber-Castell paints and added the colours. As I said, the aim was to practise and not to create a wonderful painting. I still get satisfaction from doing things like that. I have just watched a YouTube video on Atomic Habits by James Clear. Near the end he said that if you want to become a writer, you must not just write a book. That does not make you a writer. If you want to become a writer, you must write! Therefore, if you want to become a painter/artist, you must paint. You need to do that often...
Post a Comment
Read more

Daniel Smith Watercolor Paints

Image
  Daniel Smith Watercolor Paints always intrigued me. When I started my watercolor painting journey I had never heard that name. That was because I just jumped in and bought the wrong paints that caught my eye. Where I live we only have PNA stationery and art supply shops. I visited one and looked for the most impressive looking box of paints and purchased acrylic paints instead of watercolor paints. When I looked on YouTube for something to get started I then realised that I should be trying watercolors to paint something I saw there. The people presenting their tutorials were forever mentioning the best brands and Daniel Smith was usually mentioned. When I visited the PNA again, they did not have that brand in stock - only oil paints. Since I heard them usually talking about Daniel Smith watercolors, I decided to search for it online. There I discovered that Artsavingsclub stocked what I was looking for. Unfortunately, by then I had invested in Mont Marte watercolors. That was no...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art With Alcohol Markers

Image
  One day I watched a video where a gifted artist sketched a building and used alcohol markers to colour the sketch in. There was no messing around with water and paints and the paper did not buckle because no water was used. I thought that it would be wonderful if I could do the same. I proceeded to buy some alcohol markers to experiment with. That was where I learned that it was much harder than I thought. For one thing I found it difficult to avoid making marks when I coloured in with my new markers without creating lines when I moved them back and forth on the paper. It looked aweful. Then I also saw that my marker ink was far too bright on the paper. Another thing that I disliked was that ther ink bled right through the paper to the other side. All my efforts looked far worse than my watercolour paintings. I hated them. To find the right markers and paper became an obsession but no matter what I bought I could not get satisfaction. I was about to give up when I recently decide...
Post a Comment
Read more