After recently leaving my teaching post in Dar Es Salaam to move to Nairobi for my husband’s new job, I now find myself ‘in between jobs’ and consequently at a rather interesting crossroads in my life. The million dollar question, well, million shilling question is this: Do I continue with teaching Art and English or do…
Category: Travel Sketchbooks
Sketches of Tanzanian Markets
My family and I are in the process of relocating from Tanzania to neighbouring Kenya; so as one East African adventure closes, another begins… Although I may have physically left Tanzania, I am still keeping my memories alive by finishing off drawings in my sketchbooks. These sketches will go towards bigger art projects, involving acrylic…
A few of my favourite things – sketching, camping, watching the sunrise and listening to The Pixies
Much as I like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, my favourite things list is more likely to include camping in remote places, sketching and painting, watching a sunrise and listening to alternative music. So when a recent holiday involved all of the above, I was happier than a Von Trapp child having a…
I am the resurrection and I am the life – The tale of Bertie Rooster
This is the story of the luckiest, most cock-sure cockerel that has ever lived – Bertie Wooster. We bought Bertie about a year ago. We named him Bertie, because my youngest daughter, Frida, has difficulties pronouncing the letter r and says wooster rather than rooster, hence Bertie Wooster. He soon had a lady friend which…
My Pen and Ink City Panoramas
A few years ago when I was going through a minimalist phase I did lots of simple pen and ink sketches, trying to capture faces, places and buildings in just a few black lines, by reducing everything back to its basic elements. Part of this project included a series of panoramic sketches I did of…
Dadas at the fish market
I’ve been painting this picture in my head for months now. The Kivukoni Fish Market in Dar Es Salaam is always busy. Both inside and outside the market walls there are scores of people; inside fishermen and traders huddle together around the many different catches of the day, outside house dadas dressed in brightly printed…
Swedish Summertime – and the living is easy
One of the things I learnt about Swedish people in the three years that I lived there, is that they really know how to celebrate and enjoy the summertime. In a country that is cold and dark for muc… Source: Swedish Summertime – and the living is easy
Buying and Selling Bananas in Kenya
This is my latest painting, a watercolour of a group of women buying and selling bananas and mangoes at a street-side market in Kisii, a town in south-west Kenya. The painting was done from a quick sketch I did some months ago while travelling from Mwanza in Tanzania to Nairobi.
Endless Abstract Land
Endless Abstract Land is my interpretation of the Serengeti and is painted using ink and acrylics. Serengeti comes from the Maasai Maa word Serengit and means endless plain and this vast area of grassland spans northern Tanzania and southern Kenya and covers approximately 12,000 sq miles. As I travelled through these immense plains, which are…
Art is not what you see, it is what you make others see.
I have been asked by art and craft company Patience Brewster to do an interview and to share some information about my life as an artist. Patience is an artist herself who designs handmade and hand painted Christmas ornaments. If you follow my blog, you will know that I am not a “proper” artist, in that I…
Painting is Just Another Way of Keeping a Diary
I was asked to paint some pictures for staff who were leaving Isamilo International School in Mwanza this year. These images were the results. Which one is your favourite? I am now off work for 8 weeks… so plenty of time for painting, sewing and lots of crafty fun. And as Pablo Picasso once said:…
