Blogs 1-50
Blogs 51-100
Blogs 101-150
Blog 101 - Mix An Alternative Black To Paint A Sunset In Oils
"Having shown you how to paint a bright sunrise in a previous blog, I thought it would be a good idea to paint a sunset as well. With the light coming from behind the vegetation, the foreground of a sunset often appears as dark silhouettes against the bright light behind it. The obvious solution is to paint the foreground in black. However, black can easily seem dull and lifeless. That is why I mix an alternative black to paint today's sunset, allowing the silhouettes to sparkle and have a life of their own."
"One can not travel through Africa without being inspired by its animals. The giraffe has always held a great fascination for me, as for many others. In today's blog, I paint a fairly normal giraffe, but I make use of more expressive brush strokes so that the painting does not become simply another tranquil nature scene. Instead, I force the viewer to take note of the subject. I also create slight tension between the giraffe and its surroundings by allowing it to run off the canvas."
Blog 103 - Recognizing Your Own Voice In Art
"One of the things that I enjoy most about art, is the fact that it is so comprehensive and widely diverse. I find it thrilling to experiment with different styles, mediums and art movements. I believe all artists should do this to challenge themselves and to keep growing and developing as artists. I Often, when trying out new things, you will find yourself understanding other artists and their art better. Simply working through the process, is enlightening in itself. This practice will also help you to find your own voice in art. Art is a way of expressing your thoughts and ideas to the world. In today's blog, I show you how such and experiment helped me to discover more about myself and my own voice in art."
Blog 104 - Painting A Naive Pot Of Flowers In Oils
"I love naive art and when I absolutely have to paint a still life, one of my least favourite subjects to paint, I rather opt to paint it in a naive style, than in the more traditional realism. Naive art is playful in nature and strips life of its complexities. It reminds of children's art and evokes feelings of nostalgia in the viewer. A vase of flowers can convey many serious messages, such as deep love, loss or congratulations. Rendering it in naive style, robs it of its seriousness and reminds the viewer not to take life quite so seriously. Still, there are certain rules that the artist must keep in mind when rendering naive art believable. I walk you through a naive art painting in today's blog."
Blog 105 - Paint A Male Figure In Oils
"When painting a male figure with his back turned towards the viewer, one is already communicating a great deal. Adding movement to the figure, and placing him in tension with his surroundings, by allowing him to run off the canvas, even more is added to the visual story. I show you how to paint this figure, all the while exploring what the painting is attempting to communicate to the viewer."
Blog 106 - Paint Impressionist Dog Walkers In Oils
"I have always been impressed by how impressionist artist manage to create a complete story with a few random brush strokes. I replicate this in today's blog when I paint a couple of dog walkers against an empty background. Notice how casually careless the brushstrokes seem to be, and yet they manage to create two figures and dog, interacting with each other."
Blog 107 - Secluding A Lonely Figure In Oils
"Simply painting a single figure on a canvas, is not enough to convey loneliness. How we use colour, line and shapes, all combine to tell the story the artist wishes to convey. Today's painting is a lovely conversation piece as it certainly has a story to tell. My friend and I had different interpretations to the same painting. See who you agree with, or perhaps you see something completely different?"
Blog 108 - Free Painting In Oils
"It was time to put the brushes away after a lovely painting holiday in Botswana. All this time, I had been working from a single palette, simply putting new paint on top of old paint, and carrying on as I progressed from one painting to another. It seemed a shame to throw all of the lovely paint left over on the palette away. This was when it occurred to me that it was a brilliant excuse to do a free painting. In a free painting, all the leftover paint is used randomly on the canvas. The artist then stands back to allow a picture to emerge from the canvas. A few lines are added to allow others to see the picture as the artist saw it. This is a truly fun exercise which you are bound to love replicating in your own studio."
Blog 109 - Paint A Sunrise In Oils
"Sunrises tend to have brighter colours than the more muted sunsets. In today's blog, I show you how to paint a bright sunrise using mainly blue and orange. The painting was inspired by the Botswana vegetation of my surroundings."
Blog 110 - Paint An Impressionistic Violinist in Oils
"Today I will show you how to paint a violinist in oil colours, using the impressionistic style. To paint this figure I make use of two surprising elements. Firstly, I use a huge palette knife, a no.16 to be exact, to paint with, and secondly, I mix my oils with a medium to assist in creating luminosity. I show you step by step how I went about creating this painting."
Blog 111 - Paint An Impressionist Landscape in Oils
"In today's blog I show you step by step how to paint an impressionist landscape in oils. This time we use a slightly different technique than what we've been doing up to now. After applying the oil to the surface with a palette knife, we get our hands into the thick oily paste and use our fingers to blend the colours. You will either hate this, or love it. I LOVE it!"
Blog 112 - Painting A Lady In Red In Oil Colours
"In today's blog I once again use palette knives and oil colours when I paint a Lady in Red. I lay down blotches of paint to develop the picture and only use a brush to sign my name with. The facial features, though almost imperceptible, are done in scgraffitto."
Blog 113 - Coloring In Techniques
"My time in Hondeklipbaai was running out fast, but I still had a little time left to help the local charity shop, Die Rooi Container, with an awareness project. The lady in charge of the shop approached me with the idea of running a coloring competition for the adult women of the community, with a make-up hamper as prize. The whole idea behind this was to make the community aware of the charity shop to get both patrons, as well as donors in the door. I thought the idea was brilliant and quickly set about drawing up a short list of coloring techniques that could get the creative juices flowing. I then helped with drawing up the entry forms and the posters that would go up around town. Lastly, I suggested they use the designs from my book, Designs By Miekie 1, to ensure no copyright was infringed upon. I share the short list of coloring techniques with you in today's blog."
Blog 114 - Capturing The Essence Of Hondeklipbaai In A Painting
"I was approached by someone to capture the essence of Hondeklipbaai in a painting. This would mean incorporating individual ideas and concepts into a single painting, rather than simply painting an existing natural landscape composition. This can be slightly tricky, as it incorporates both elements of design as well as art. The instruction was to use loose cartoon-like lines, moving well away from realism. I took my time getting to know the town, its people, and its character before finally settling down to plan the painting. In today's blog, I share some ideas of how I went about doing this."
Blog 115 - Making A Pottery Mug
"What great fun I had when I recently went to Hondeklipbaai in Namaqualand on the West Coast of South Africa. I was thrilled to find a large number of independently-minded women here with the ability to shape their own lives. More than that. They had unpacked themselves from the box so much that they had taken on their own shape again and was happily living their lives in these comfortable shapes. Two of the women I met, who epitomize this description, are Elize Kruger and Ninette Hough from the K9 Pottery Studio in town. They allowed me into their private creative world, where I took photos of the drawn out process of throwing on the potter's wheel. I share this process with you in this blog. Prepare to be enthralled."
Blog 116 - Painting A Heart-Shaped Horse In Acrylics
"I have temporarily moved house so that I can fill a relief teaching post. The problem was that I missed painting so much that I simply had to go out and purchase some products to fill the longing in my soul. My choice fell on acrylics as my desk would have to double as an art studio in the confined space of the room I was renting, and acrylics dry quickly enough so that I wouldn't be sitting with wet canvasses strewn all over the room.. In today's blog I share the first of the paintings I did in this temporary 'studio' when I show you step by step how to paint this heart-shaped horse that was inspired by a line drawing I came across on Pinterest."
"I never thought I would paint nudes, but someone recently intrigued me in a discussion, and I decided to give it a go with two different takes on this theme. The first of these is a rather more abstract rendition where lines were allowed to merge and flow into each other. The painting was also stripped of its detail, so that it gives the impression of a figure rather than pertinently bringing it to your attention. I show you how to do this painting in a couple of quick steps in today's blog."
Blog 118 - Painting A Nude In Acrylics
"While I was working on yesterday's abstract nude, I was also painting a more realistic version, at the same time. I decided to keep the backgrounds similar, but to change my tactics and style completely when it came to the figures themselves. For this painting, I paid much more attention to the detail of the lines, and to getting the light and shadows just right."
Blog 119 - Painting Rain In Acrylics
"There are a couple of techniques to use when painting rain. I show you one of these techniques when doing today's paintings, which is a set of two. I use heart-shaped canvasses as my backgrounds to illustrate my love of rain. As I do not mind getting wet, I go so far as to discard the umbrella in one of the paintings. I use acrylic paint as a medium."
Blog 120 - Painting A Frazzled Ostrich In Acrylics
"I love ostriches. They are such whimsical birds, and I associate them with good times, as they seemed to be around on most of my fun holidays and tours. In today's project I show you how to paint a rather frazzled looking ostrich. We use lots of fun colours in this painting to make sure it does not take a moody undertone. The process is one of pure joy and relaxation. I used acrylics as medium in this painting."
"When you search the internet, you will find lots of pictures of youngsters strolling or meeting in the rain, under an umbrella. I love the joy and thrill of young love, yet there is something very comfortable and inspiring about the love shared by an older couple. In today's painting, I show you how to paint an older couple taking a romantic moonlit stroll on a rainy evening. I use acrylics as medium."
Blog 122 - Encapsulated In Love: Painted In Acrylics
"In a world that is grey and begging for conformity, it takes a strong person to stick to their principles of being true to themselves. It is only when we truly love ourselves that we can dare to live true to our own selves in this uniform world. In today's painting I reflect these sentiments by using trees in my illustration. I use acrylics as medium."
Blog 123 - Heart Of Worship - A Figure in Acrylics
"It is a good thing to give thanks onto the Lord. Every so often in life, I am reminded of how good my life has turned out, and I ascribe all of this to the wonderful and miracle working role that our Father plays in my life. As I was getting ready to paint, the song "Heart of worship" was playing on the iPod and I joyfully sang along. As I was singing, the urge to paint the joy rising up in my spirit, came over me and today's painting is the result of this. I walk you through the steps of painting this yourself, using acrylics as painting medium."
Blog 124 - Chicken Duo: Rooster 1 In Acrylics
"I bought two rustic looking paint surfaces made of rough wooden planks. I wanted to paint something that reminded me of the simple things in life that gives me so much joy and pleasure. My choices fell on two roosters. I show you how to paint the first in this series of two roosters in today's blog. I use acrylics as painting medium."
Blog 125 - Chicken Duo: Rooster 2 In Acrylics
"In the previous blog, I showed you how to paint the first of a set of two roosters. I continue with the step by step instructions for painting the second rooster in today's blog. I once again use the rustic surface of rough planks that I used to paint the first rooster on. This makes the painting a little more tricky, as the rough surface keeps pushing the bristles of the brush in awkward directions, but stick to it. The end result is well worth the struggle."
Blog 126 - Colouring In: The Masterpiece
"Last month the PNA had a colouring-in competition to promote Francine Rivers' book The Masterpiece (Die Meesterstuk). I loved the picture and grabbed an entry form, not knowing if I would have time to colour it by the due date. The picture went into a drawer and I discovered it in the nick of time. I decided to blog the process of colouring the picture before sending the entry off to the adjudicators by email. I have no idea if it reached them on time, as I only sent it very late at night on the evening that the competition had closed. Regardless, enjoy the steps of colouring this bird with me."
Blog 127 - Paint A Fantasy Tree In Acrylics
"I recently came across a very similar fantastical tree on Pinterest and decided that I would like to borrow the idea and paint it myself. I show you how to go about it step by step in today's blog. I use acrylics as medium for this project."
Blog 128 - How to draw: A Bottlenose Whale
"I have decided to do a series on how to draw. However, aside from giving you some tips on how to draw certain animals, people, places, vehicles, and more, I also want to use the series to introduce you to a range of mediums and art materials. In this first blog in the series, we are going to draw a very simple shape, when we draw the bottlenose whale. I opted to use pens to draw and colour the whale in. Let me show you how in a few steps."
Blog 129 - How to draw: A Pig
"In this second blog on learning to draw, I will show you how to draw a pig in a couple of easy steps. We will then use tinted charcoal to colour the pig. If you unfamiliar with tinted charcoal, you are in for a treat!"
Blog 130 - How to draw: A Stegosaurus
"I have a little boy in my life who adores his aunt, and the feeling is absolutely mutual. If it were not for him, I probably never would have drawn a dinosaur. However, as he is an integral part of my life, I find myself drawing dinosaurs more often than I would have imagined possible. In today's blog, I show you step by step how to draw a dinosaur. Then I use normal colouring pencils to colour it - the kind you will find inside any child's school bag. You will not believe how easy it is to draw and colour this Stegosaurus."
Blog 131 - How to draw: An Excavator
"Today we continue the series on how to draw things with a drawing of an excavator. I am not a technical artist by any means, and I am sure there will be some of you out there who will be able to spot some obvious errors in my drawing. However, I hide myself behind artistic freedom, and show you how I went about it anyway. The really fun part of today's blog, is that I use acrylic ink to paint the drawing with, when we are done. Ink is one of my all time favourite mediums and I can barely wait to introduce you to it!"
Blog 132 - How to draw: A Grizzly Bear
"We have a lot of fun in today's blog when I show you how to draw this furry grizzly bear. After following the steps to draw the bear, I will use a very special type of pencil, manufactured by Derwent, called the Drawing pencils, to colour the bear with. These pencils have been specially developed to draw animals with and are an absolute treat to work with. However, if you can't lay your hands on these, feel free to use your own colouring pencils instead."
Blog 133 - How to draw: A Mustang Aeroplane
"I am really pushing my luck this week by attempting yet a second technical drawing! This time we are going to draw and paint a Second World War favourite bomber plane, named the Mustang. You guessed it - it was developed in America. We paint this drawing with water-soluble wax crayons. Sounds incredible, doesn't it? Well, it exists! Prepare to have fun!"
Blog 134 - How to draw: A Boxer
"In today's drawing lesson, we are going to be drawing a boxer, step by step. When the drawing is in place, I will introduce you to tinted graphite pencils. This is the same stuff that is used to make normal grey pencils. They simply add a tint to it. The result is something widely different from normal colouring pencils. It gets even more interesting when we discover that these pencils are also water-soluble - and that the painted colour is different from the dry one! I will show you more in this blog."
Blog 135 - How to draw: A Centipede
"It is time we learned to draw the creepy crawlies. These have always fascinated me, but even more so after I wrote and illustrated my first children's novel. In today's blog I am going to show you how to draw a centipede, paying close attention to getting the detail right that makes this creature so creepy. We then use a combination of media to colour our picture, namely pens and colouring pencils. This is more fun than it would appear at first glance."
"It is time we learned to draw the creepy crawlies. These have always fascinated me, but even more so after I wrote and illustrated my first children's novel. In today's blog I am going to show you how to draw a centipede, paying close attention to getting the detail right that makes this creature so creepy. We then use a combination of media to colour our picture, namely pens and colouring pencils. This is more fun than it would appear at first glance."
Blog 136 - How to draw: A Hippo
"This drawing series is turning out to be a whole lot of fun. I am rediscovering some of my lesser used mediums and learning why I enjoyed them so much in the first place. In today's blog, I show you how to draw a hippo step by step. We then use watercolours to paint the hippo in. However, our watercolours come in the shape of pencils. I use Derwent Aquatone pencils, but feel free to use any watercolours or watercolour pencils of your choice."
Blog 137 - How to draw: A Triceratops
"Dinosaurs weren't as commonplace as they are today, when I grew up. I think for this reason, these giant creatures that once roamed the earth, still hold such fascination for me. Stephen Spielberg did nothing to squash this fascination either! In today's blog, I share the steps for drawing a Triceratops with you. We then use soft pastels to colour it. These can be slightly messy and tricky to work with, but I'll show you how to do so without too much hassle."
Blog 138 - How to draw: A Chicken
"We have not drawn any birds yet, and I think it foul. Therefore, I shall start us off on a fowl! In today's blog, I will show you how to draw a chicken in a couple of easy steps. We want the chicken to be perceived as being white, so we will not need to add a lot of colour. This is the ideal drawing with which to introduce you to graphite bars. Graphite is the stuff that is put in grey pencils. However, it is also manufactured in bars, without the wooden casing. This makes it brilliant to use on the side, or to draw straight lines with, etc. I'll add a couple of colour bars into the demonstration to boot."
Blog 139 - Chicken Love - A Mixed Media Project
"I bought these two large round canvasses a couple of months ago and I could hardly wait to get started on them. Then, quite unexpectedly, my life took a strange turn as the relief post I was teaching in became more fixed. I also had to move house and settle in the town I was now working in, rather than stay in the temporary accommodations I had been occupying. The canvasses took a back seat to all of this. However, things have finally calmed down enough for me to throw myself back into that which I love to do - art. I had a lot of fun with this project. A little bit of decoupage, a bit of drawing and a tidbit of paint; it all makes for fun and relaxation. I show you step by step how to go about creating these canvasses yourself, in today's blog."
Blog 140 - How to draw: A Spider
"Today's drawing exercise is a little more interesting, as we will be working on black paper, which we have not done until now. We will be using a chalk pencil to draw with, and white pens to outline our drawing with. We will then cover most of this white when we use the water-soluble Aquatone we used in a previous blog, to colour the spider. However, this time we use the Aquatone dry!"
Blog 141 - How to draw: A Parasaurolophus
"I recently went shopping at the famous art shop in Rosebank, Herbert Evans. They were having their annual sale, and a friend and I made an outing of it. When I arrived home with some newly purchased pens, I could hardly wait to put them to the test. My disappointment was great when I discovered that most of the pens I had bought were dry! Today's drawing of a Parasaurolophus was intended to be coloured in a great many shades, but I could simply not get the rest of the pens to work. The restrictions aside, I show you how to go about this simple pen sketch in today's blog."
Blog 142 - Art Journalling: Smell the Roses
"I am very excited about today's blog. It started off as me just fooling around with my art materials, but quite unexpectedly turned into an art journal. Then, as I was processing the photos for the blog, I decided to fool around with the video making tools on my computer. The result is the first ever blog in video format! I still posted the stills and the steps, as usual, but at the end of this blog, you can find a video with all of the pictures sequentially arranged in it, for easy viewing pleasure."
Blog 143 - Decorating a Book Cover with Paint & Decoupage
"I recently bought a drawing book with black pages to doodle in. However, when I removed the plastic film around the book, I discovered to my horror that the ugly green paper with the manufacturer's name on it, was in fact a sticker! Try as I would, I could not remove it. I decidedly did not want such an ugly cover for my book, even though I only intended to doodle in it. I figured I could do better than to simply cover it. The result was a cover that was decoupaged and then painted with a cute motif I found on Pinterest. I show you how to do this in today's blog, so you can do the same with your own books."
Blog 144 - Art Journal: Basking in the Sun
"I am thoroughly enjoying the black drawing book I bought myself recently. Today, when I returned from work, I was slightly upset by something that had happened. I decided to sit myself down and focus my mind on more positive matters. I found a picture on the internet that appealed to my state of mind and immediately decided to do a short journal on it. I walk you through the steps in today's blog."
Blog 145 - Art Journal: Bloom in the Rain
"It is a bit of a rough time at work and I have very little time to be creative. Yet, these are the times that I find that I need most to relax with my art supplies. I am therefore not coming up with anything original at this stage, but I am taking time to recreate pictures and ideas that have left an impression on me when I discovered them on the internet. Today, I share another one of these that made it into my black drawing book. Somehow, this once again turned into a mini journal page."
Blog 146 - Art Journal: God's Promises of Rest & Peace
"Last night, as I was praying, a picture of a dragonfly on a waterlily leaf came into my head. I felt an immense surge of peace as I became aware of the picture and knew that I could sit back and trust God to keep His word and promises in my life. Today, the image remained in my head and I decided to draw it. It became the next page in my art journal. I show you how to draw a dragonfly step by step in today's blog, before painting it in soft pastels and charcoal."
Blog 147 - Art Journal: Uniquely Talented, like the Ostrich
"I love drawing and painting ostriches. They are such unique creatures, as they are all bird, yet no flight. I was pondering this idea today, when it occurred to me that I could do a page on this for my art journal. I share the simple steps for drawing the ostrich with you and then take a passage from the book of Job to reinforce the sentiments I had been toying with in my mind throughout the day."
Blog 148 - Art Journal: Life's Simple Outlines
"I found two pictures on Pinterest where the original artists have made use of the absolute minimum lines to create very effective pictures. These always fascinate me endlessly, as I can not help but to marvel at how easy the brain finds it to associate these few lines with their actual real life counterparts. Today, I was contemplating how often in life we do not have a clear idea of what is expected of us. Instead, we get only a bare outline and it is left to us to fill in the detail. I decided to use the two pictures I found on Pinterest to create an entry for my art journal in which I explored this idea."
Blog 149 - Art Journal: Life's Exciting Moments
"Have you ever blown a huge bubble when chewing gum. I'm not talking about the kind we blew as kids, when we trying to outdo each other. I'm talking about now, in your adult life, when you were absentmindedly sitting and chewing and without even planning it, you blew this bubble that caught you completely by surprise and left you in awe. And perhaps slightly embarrassed. I was thinking about how often we forget to enjoy these little moments of excitement in life, being too focused on what others might think of us. I decided to journal these thoughts of mine and share the steps with you in today's blog."
Blog 150 - Art Journal: All Children Matter
"I discovered this cute work of art on Pinterest a while ago and saved it to my PC, not knowing if I would ever use it. Today, I was contemplating the important role that we as adults play in children's lives, especially me, as a teacher. It reminded me of this picture and I went in search of it. I decided to use this in my art journal for the day. I show you how I went about it in this blog."
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