New Dimensions

The autobot above was my next project because I wanted to see what I could achieve with my new alcohol markers. As you can see it isn't finished yet - it is still a work in progress. I have made a few digital enhancements so that I could put it up on my blog. He is called AI Autobot and will be undergoing some changes to fit the description. Recently, everybody has been raving about AI Artificial Intelligence. I am steering clear of AI at the moment because my intelligence is okay for me. I don't want to lose my edge by relying on some computer program for now. After all, I got this far in life without it. After starting with watercolour painting and succeeding with that I have ventured into multi media to get some exposure to a new dimension in my art. Working with different mediums comes with its challenges because the ideal paper for markers is the opposite of what you need for watercolour painting. To successfully blend these two together on smooth paper is not the easiest ...

MY BOOK UPDATE: 24 JUNE 2024 I have finished my book, and it feels great. All I am focusing on at the moment is getting it online and connecting it to a payment facility so that people can buy it. Hopefully it will all be ready this week. Once it is done, I will start promoting it on this blog. Now I am making my dream come true because I have enough content for my book. Yesterday I decided to compile my book in a better, more logical order. I was getting new information for my book and just created the pages haphazardly. So, I stopped for a moment and then looked at how I could improve things so that readers can understand what I am writing about better. All I am doing now is recreating the book page by page, then it will be complete, then I can make it available online. My book will be filled with useful information about the company I worked for up until 1991. Then, it will also have information about the products that were sold and how it started. There will be lots of photographs ...

  There comes a time in one’s life that you reach a milestone. When that happens you can stop and look back at what you have managed to do. Exactly fifty years ago I made a promise in the form of a wedding vow that I would love my bride until death do us part. We have both been through troubled waters that have tried to shipwreck our boat many times and have managed to weather all sorts of adversities. People wish us well with kind words and say, “Well done, congratulations.” It’s nice to hear those words because it makes one feel good. If they only knew of all the times, we had to bite the bullet, knuckle down and keep going. I remember the very first time I had to resign from work in Cape Town and move back to Johannesburg without having a new job and a wife and two kids to support because my salary couldn’t go far enough every month. Then, I got a fantastic job and managed to buy a car because I got a salary raise and back pay plus a Christmas bonus for excellent work. Imagi...

Today I practised some more in another way. I drew another picture and coloured it in with watercolour pencils and then used some water on a brush to add water to the flower. It didn't work like I expected it to so I used coloured markers to deepen the colours some more. The idea was to see if I could eliminate the watercolour paint. That somehow improved things but the original looks better than the photographed version. So I have now added it above. Here you can read about how I started watercolour painting . Sometimes it's nice to also practise something different and completely new to you. So, I decided to see what would happen if I painted something on newsprint. I was surprised to see that one could manage to paint on newsprint and that it handles the water from the paint pretty well. The result is above.  Recently, I bought painting journals. One was cheap and the other was more expensive. To test the cheaper one first I sketched a picture and proceeded to paint with wat...

 In an earlier blog post I mentioned that I would be displaying wild animals photos on my blog. I had to wait until after the weekend to be able to keep that promise. The time has arrived although the animals stayed away and I couldn't get the shots I wanted. What I did manage to get will be shown here. Some of you may know that rhinos in South Africa are being pouched for their horns and is a big moneymaking business. We are still fortunate that we can visit the Alzu Petroport in Mpumalanga. The two rhinos casually walked up to the water troughs and the calf allowed the mother to drink first and only after a while also started drinking. It looks like these majestic animals respect the hierarchy within their kind and don't just but in and drink or eat before the matriarchs or elders first get their share. I think us humans can learn from them. It looked like there was a tight bond between mother and calf because the latter remained at her side wherever they went. Inside the cen...

  On  August 13, 2023 , I wrote about the safest place for me because I wanted to share a scripture that I had found that morning that spoke to my heart and circumstances. This morning I woke up to a noise on my roof. I looked at my watch and saw that it was one o'clock and it was very dark outside. Whatever climbed on my roof was moving around because I could hear that. I decided to get up and switch some lights on to let whoever or whatever was up there know I was awake. I then switched on the kettle and made myself a cup of tea. Since my sleep was disturbed and I was wide awake, I may as well have enjoyed a nice warm cuppa. Then, I decided to have a look at what was happening with my blog. I found that people from all over the world were visiting. They came from United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, South Africa, Germany, France, Ireland, Singapore, and Canada. So, I decided to write this blog post. When you are at my age with no means of protecting yourself and your...

  The 2023 Rugby World Cup Final on Saturday 28 October was an exciting game to watch. The two best teams that made it to the final gave it their all and kept us spectators biting our nails as it looked like the game could go either way. I know that there was so much at stake because the All-blacks wanted to win so badly. Unfortunately, they made mistakes through bad judgement and received penalty after penalty.  Fortunately, the referee was very unbiased and called the game correctly according to the rules. All praise to him for his good judgement. When he needed to ask the TV judges for a decision because he wanted to make sure all the decisions were fair, it actually improved the game and to show that there were no favourites. For me that made the game more enjoyable, even when it looked like a setback for the Boks. The important thing is that the Springboks won, even if only by just one point. As a South African spectator, I learned just how committed the Springboks were w...