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…
Tag: painting
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…
Livin’ La Vida Loca
About a week about ago, I was “talent” spotted to work as a freelance designer for an international clothing manufacturer. The company, VIDA, are based in San Francisco and essentially make women’s tops, scarves, bags and wraps. So I’m thrilled to share with you some of the items from my latest collection on VIDA! This collection…
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:…
Easter Resolution – getting back to my sketchbooks.
Over the last few months I have been so horridly busy, both at work and at home looking after my three children, that I have barely had enough time to sleep, let alone sketch. So I have set myself an Easter Resolution of doing more art work, initially in my sketchbooks and later moving onto…
Celebrating the festive season in Tanzania and beyond.
This is without a shadow of a doubt my favourite time of year. Past Christmases and New Years have seen me dancing until dawn in Amsterdam, drinking champagne on the streets of Coimbra, sledging in Stockholm, having tea with a group of Bedouin women in Petra, visiting Sylvia Plath’s grave in West Yorkshire, raving in…
Painting with Kerouac
I have spent the best part of today battling with (a) the lack of light due to a day long power cut, and (b) my new mischievous kitten Kerouac scampering over my sketchbook and watercolours, trying to add some colour to this painting in my sketchbook. However I persevered and this is my painting of…
Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.
One of the many joys of living in Tanzania is the amazing fruit you can buy, for next to nothing. Back in Blighty people struggle to eat their “five a day” but here you can get your quota in, just for breakfast. At the moment, my breakfast selection includes papaya, passion fruit, watermelon, pineapple, banana,…
Snow Falling Soundlessly
Last week, when I thought winter in Sweden had long gone, there was an unexpected fall of snow. It came heavily and suddenly one night, submerging the yellow and purple crocus flowers which had already started to grow in the lawns and gardens. It really was rather magical. As inches of snow fell late into…
An attempt at a Sunday morning lie in.
An attempt at a Sunday morning lie in.
