The Protea an Indigenous Flower of Africa

I was surfing the net one day and whilst I was crusing through FaceBook one of my friends from way back when called me up on chat. Mary-Kate was so pleased to find me online and we had a great time. During this conversation she mentioned that she was redoing her home and wondered if I was going to do some paintings of African indigenous flowers. Well I told her that I'd been serously considering it but hadn't gotton around to getting anything done. She asked me to have a go at a Protea and a Flame lilly. She also wants a picture of Guinea Fowl and a Striletzia. Okay I replied I'll have a go at them. Little did I know just how involved the Protea was going to be. whew it took such a long time to paint and they way I decided to do it made it even more difficult. But I think all in all it has turned out very well.

So I made a small video showing the progress of the work. I hope you enjoy it :-D

What and Why... African influences.

I have wondered recently if the readers of this blog expect only posts about things African? If so then I think we should put matters straight.

I paint things found under the vast oceans that cover our world. I also paint African wild life and flowers.
Yes I am planning to be painting some African wild flowers.....soon I promise...
Anyway I digress, I will always have Africa in me, the vast lands, the sunsets, the hot, sometimes dry, summers and cold, sometimes icy, winters...the millions of stars I grew up seeing, not realising that many people never see stars, because of city lights.

A small section of Victoria Falls.

It's not a fire...it's a sunset

I was so very fortunate to have been born there and to have grown up in such a wonderful easy relaxed atmosphere. The thing is, I'm not in Africa any more so posts from me are going to have to be about what has influenced or triggered the eventual item I've finally created.
For example....the underwater creations I produce are and always will be inspired by my first visit to Mozambique, back in the early 70's...yeah it unbelievable how long ago that was..I'm surely a fossil by now :-D...anyway digressing again...Mozambique was a place we'd go for two or three weeks every now and then and it was there that first I was introduced to walking on the reefs,'with takkies on our feet' (sneakers or trainers to the rest of the world), to protect us from the sharp edges of coral and mussel shells. Our Mom showed us little tidal pools of water where sea anemones, snails, fish, starfish, tube worms with their gorgeous feathery tendrils all lived. I was mesmerised and my brother and I would spend hours watching them. We also learned how to collect fresh mussels off the reef and then we'd cook and eat them that night for dinner. It's not surprising that my brother is an Ichthyologist- Fisheries Scientist - today.

Clear waters.

As I got older I was introduced to snorkeling and a new wonder world was opened up to me. I was totally hooked on the ocean. The water there is so unbelievably crystal clear you feel as if you are floating on nothing. In 40ft of water you feel as if you can reach down and sift the sand through your fingers. It was the first and only place I've ever seen a giant clam. It was easily 4ft long. I've told others about it but I sometimes see a skeptical look in their eyes. Still, I saw it and that's enough for me.

In the Tuamotu's clear waters..lovely.

I thought that all of earths oceans were as beautiful as this, the coast of Mozambique...WRONG! I've been places where the water is so brown or green that you cannot see more than 1 meter in front of you..and still I snorkeled it to try and see what lives in that soup. This was not caused by pollution, but by rivers. When the river flows into the ocean..for example the Amazon or any of it's offshoots, there is a lot of debris from the forest that gets swept down and out into the ocean, so much so that for many miles around the colour of the water is permanently tinted.

There are other places such as Hawaii where the water is crystal clear but for some reason corals do not do well there and so you have be satisfied with the range of fish...of which there are many. :-D However I've been spoiled by Mozambique. My partner David, has dived in the Persian Gulf and he is waiting to see Mozambique, he thinks the Gulf might be better..ha ha

Now I dived in Tortola, BVI and was pleasantly surprised, snorkeled in the Grenadines and had happy time there too..oh yes also the Venezuelan Islands, los Roquos, Aves etc..and the ABC islands...and here in the south Pacific...great places to snorkel...BUT I am still drawn back to Moz. and my memories from there, and therefore even in my painting of ocean animals I am influenced by Africa.

So our posts here might not be about Africa per se but about something that we've created BECAUSE of Africa and it's influence on us.

I've recently finished a series of Starfish and have posted them up on my Etsy site. You may not believe me that these are real. I've written about them on another blog called Quilters, Fabric Art and Creative Sewing.  http:/sylviesdesigns.blogspot.com  You can see the photo's I took of them, there, along with the painted versions. The article is called, Starfish or Sea Stars. :-D

Welcome! To our newest Authors :-D

Well, I've finally managed to get into a place where I can sit and wax lyrical about some interesting people who have decided to join this blog page. Internet has been iffy for me these last few months, what with sailing about to deserted Islands, Atolls and Motus......not complaining mind you..but when we do get somewhere, where there is a connection i have such a back log of things to sort that time just flies by.

I have managed to upload the info on our newest Authors though and they are : La Antigua, Yasmintoo!, The African Diaspora, Vynns Ravelings and most recently B-Attitudes.

La Antigua makes some quilts, more bags but she also sells fantastic fabric imported from Africa....it''s beautiful stuff. Definitely a must see!
  
Yasmintoo! has gorgeous hand dyed silk and cotton fabrics for sale. She has also made some small works of fiber art . So tempt yourself and have a peek at her shop.

The African Diaspora hmmm well you just gotta see what these folks are making! Exciting tops and skirts and dresses..man the colours are just scintillating. Ever heard of the 'Mandella' shirt? well I saw a ladies version on their site...

Vynns Ravelings The Coolest Craziest jewelry ever seen. I just love the pale olive headdress featured in the ad down on the left side of this post. It's really something. I love her stuff! go on...yeah go on..have a look at it.

B-Attitudes Ahhh YES! This girl has the knack of creating the zaniest Sandals. She gets them in from Kibera, Africa. They are made for her by people she has gone over to meet personally and they have become friends. Yup! Check her shop out it's rather fascinating to see all the designs, and know that they are all carefully hand made.

Well there you have it :-) Items of beauty from far and wide available because of these lovely people.

I'm really looking forward to their posts.....I hope you are too :-D

Quilting in Africa.

When I lived in South Africa, in the '80's and '90's, I had a business called Iris Creations. The reason for the name was that both my Mother and I have Iris as one of our names. I dyed and painted the fabric and my Mom did the sewing. Then one day I realised that maybe I should know a bit about quilting seeing as I dyed fabric for all the quilters in South Africa, and some people internationally too. :-D

I hunted about and found a lady who taught quilting from her home. She did a 5 day intensive course with a small discount in price if I could encourage another person to join me. Well I'd already decided that my Mom and I were going to do this together so that was a nice little bonus. :-)

We lived in a little farming community about 80 km from Pretoria, the Capital City of South Africa. The course was in Pretoria, so that meant we had to drive in every day. This wasn't a hardship at all...my Mom and I were so excited about this, that we chatted and chatted and the trip passed in no time at all...
The course taught us 9 different types of patch working..we sewed a block of each type and then put them together to make a lap quilt.

The Patchwork that I found the most fun and of course the easiest was the Nine Patch. So I set about practicing it till, I think, I was fairly proficient. I then started to put together Nine Patch Kits, complete with instructions, selling them at the quilt shows and to quilt guilds around the country. This expanded into people asking me to design blocks with a specific theme, which I'd do..then I'd dye fabric for that theme, paint the blocks, cut all the pieces required and package them with batting, backing and instructions. It was fun but very time consuming.

One day my phone rang and to my surprise the caller was a lady from South Africa's Leading Needlework and Craft Magazine, Talking Threads! She'd heard of my quilts and wanted to do a story on them. I was flabbergasted and enormously flattered all at the same time ;-)
We got together and did the interview. I was asked to write up a tutorial on how I made these quilts. I didn't have a camera in those days, so I had to manipulate the whole thing through the computer. They loved it. I  was so excited! Then I didn't hear anything for a while. I was immersed in my work and so time flew by. Several months later they called me and ordered a whole lot of the Nine Patch Quilt kits. I asked what was happening and they said that they wanted stock for when the edition # 20 came out. I got all excited all over again, and was even more busy trying to deal with my regular orders and all this as well.

What they hadn't told me was.......................... My quilt was going to be on the front cover of the Magazine!!!  I was totally blown away when I found out!

The front Cover.

 Inside the Talking Threads was a full three pages showing my quilt and how to make it. Because the Talking Threads had stocked up with the kits..people could get them at a reduced price, a great bargain for beginner quilters.

My Quilt.

 The fabric had all been dyed by me and then stenciled on top of the dye. I had designed 4 different quilts so that people would have a choice.

Other Choices.

All in all it was a great time for me. My business was doing well and I was one happy lady. ;-D

Recently I tried to find out if Talking Threads was still pumping out their fantastic mag, but I couldn't find anything online. Not that, that means anything really..but I did wonder.

Still sailing....this is a scheduled post..just to keep you all on your toes.. lol

My African Quilt!

Long long time ago, back in the day when ...oh sorry wrong story..ahem..*sheepish grin*
In 2001 I dyed some fabric. Then I stenciled some designs onto it. I painted 6 panels with what was almost African rock drawings..but a bit more... today ..is the only word I can think of. It was a lot of fun. I showed the pieces to my Mom and we discussed how it should go together. Then I put it aside...various things were happening in my life, my son got married, I went on to a sailing school on a Coastal Skipper's course for a month to gain experience on large keel boats. Up till then I'd only sailed small dinghy racers. Suddenly I was offered a trip, from Durban, South Africa to Chesapeake Bay near Washington DC. All I had to do was help sail the boat there. I jumped at it and my life turned upside down...what to do with the house, the car etc..I solved it all by handing the keys to my son and said.."here you go my boy..how about taking over..not sure when I'll be back..maybe never....I might like it out there you know"....ha ha he he he ..

Anyway I digress, I'm always doing that..:-p...here are some photo's of the quilt and then some close-ups of different sections.

My African quilt in our Aft Cabin.

One of the hand painted blocks.

Another of the blocks.

Still another.. :-)

Notice the tiny loin on the gold square?

This is the lion...

 There are other animals in the other corners.

A Hippo yawning...

An Elephant.

A Giraffe drinking..

A Warthog mom and her babies.

 These are stencils of different homes built around Africa. Some of them are beautifully painted with designs in bright colours.

This is an overall view of the quilt...taken on the boat outside.

An overall view.

This quilt has been everywhere with me..usually it was stuffed into my back pack and dragged around from boat to boat..whichever one I happened to be working on at the time :-) I also often threw it into the washing machine along with other stuff...no protection and not on the delicate cycle...I decided that it would be a good test to see if my colours lasted..and I'm very happy with the result....:-D
.
No, I'm not back in circulation yet :-D I wrote this whilst still in Panama and the scheduled it to post today..Just to keep you all on your toes. :-)

A bit of Africa on the far side of the earth.

My brothers and I don't get to see each other very often because we live in different sections of the globe, different time zones, and one of them is a whole day ahead of me. Anyway one year when his birthday came around I decided to have some fun and so I painted him his own special card....it had an African theme to it of course.

I sent it to him along with a 'T' shirt that I'd bought...yeah I know..should have painted the 'T' shirt as well, but the one I got for him was very nice.

So it's just a bit of fun to make you all smile ;-D
Enjoy your day!

Inspiration from Africa.

Hi,
I make blocks for people who sew. Sounds weird doesn't it. ha ha.. Blocks you think, what type of blocks?..can't be wood blocks....:-)  Well they are squares of fabric, 7.5 inches square and 9.5 inches square.. "Oh squares! well why didn't you say so in the first place?"...
"I know, I used to say that..but I've learned that in sewing circles, they are called blocks".
"Ahhhh okay..and so?"

At first I hand dyed the fabric and then hand painted sea creatures on them. Then someone said "Not everyone likes sea creatures you know"...hmmmmm Okay, I put on my thinking cap and eventually it stopped sleeping, struggled awake and gave me an idea. Let me try and paint African Wild animals and see what reaction I get to those. So far the reaction has been fairly good, and of course, I'm hoping for it to improve. haha.

Have a look at these then: The left hand column is from the range called "Late Afternoon". And the right hand column is from the range called  "After the Rains".

Buffalo.

Buffalo...

Elephant..there is one more.. :-)

Elephant.

Giraffe...

Giraffe...

leopard...looking at you. :-)

Leopard...

Lioness and cub...

The cub needs to have her nap.....shhhhh

Rhino...

   

Hey Dude, you want some grass?

The wild life have had a hard time with poachers in the last decade...but there are some dedicated people out there trying to keep them safe. In South Africa, there is one guy, Ian Merrifield and his wife running a charitable organisation called Daktari Wildlife Orphanage and a Bush School where he teaches children the importance of the wild animals to their culture and way of life. This is very important work.

Now why did I mention that? One of my brothers used to be a Game Ranger in Zimbabwe. He was always watching for poachers. The are the bane of the Rangers existence. My son and I used to go and stay with him. I felt so privileged you know, to be "behind the scenes" as it were...But in all the times I did stay with Kevin, I never saw a cat in the wild...not because there were none, but because they hid away..:-p not fair...I'm just going to have to go back to have a good look one of these days :-D

 :-D That's the range at the moment....If there are any requests I shall seriously consider them....leave a comment :-)
Have a great day!

If the Mask offends...

If the picture of the African mask offends anyone of the Design Team.....please let me know in comments and I'll change it for a sunset or something...

I thought that it was a particularly good mask. I don't remember them being so brightly painted when I lived there...seems I can remember carved ones, then the wood was polished up and that was it. I like the shape and colours of this one.

Thanks
Sylvie

Making Gifts ...

Hello there,
Recently I made a couple of pot holders for a friend...and posted them off as a surprise. :-) I used some fabric that I had hand dyed. I hand painted a Pelican onto one piece and did another with a jelly fish.

The Pelican

The Jelly Fish.

Then I lay them face down and added a piece of insulated fabric..we call it "Heat tex" in South Africa....and a plain piece of fabric on top of each one. Then just to make it more fun I took 4 squares of fabric per pot holder and folded them in half diagonally. I painted a turtle on two of the pieces for one pot holder and a Crane on the other. Then I sewed it all together...It's not very clear how I did it but if you want me too I'll type up proper instructions here......just leave a comment. :-)

The turtles ..I had to fold the fabric first then paint it.. ;-)

The Cranes..the fabric was also folded and then painted.

Oh yes then when I looked at them I decided that they were boring with an empty space in the center..so I painted a little crane in this one and a bit of seaweed in the turtle one.. They can be washed in a machine....

They arrived in the UK last week and apparently the surprise was a good one.. She likes them. Ha Ha I'm so pleased.

Africa!

I was born in Africa, grew up there in a small town called Fort Victoria, in a country called Rhodesia. By the time I was 21 the country had changed it's name to Zimbabwe and my home town was known as Masvingo.
Many years later I've done a lot of traveling, seen many countries, yet when I hear Toto's song "I miss the rain in Africa" I dance and cry all at the same time..... Some may say "Man, that's silly"...but it's how I feel.

To be able to survive this foreign world I find myself in, I create, I design, I paint. The ideas Burst Out of me. I can't stop them. Some of the things I paint are of Animals found in Africa. I offer these works of washable art for sale in my Etsy shop so that others, who don't have the gift I do, can also surround themselves with a touch of Africa...or drown themselves in art of Africa if they like. :-D If you'd like to see my shop click HERE.

This blog is going to have many authors who have some sort of link to Africa. They'll be from the team African Design in Etsy., this will make the posts diverse and hopefully entertaining.

Sunset over Victoria Falls.