Tshwane

Tshwane is the gateway to the bushveld

Over the last few years my consulting business has taken up to Tshwane quite often. This is always interesting as I went to high school there – back in ‘die ou dae’ when it was called ‘Pretoria’ – ‘Before the Rindepest’ as they say around there.

My visits have always been interesting. I find the work I do with teams very rewarding – but also quite draining. Therefore I take whatever time I can to enjoy some of the bushveld up there. Here are some of the paintings I have completed up there.

Magnolia Dell

Magnolia Dell holds strong memories for me. For although I never went there, it was at the last turnoff when my parents dropped me off at boarding school. Here is a watercolour I did in the park as shadows fell

The Bush

Here are some of the watercolours I have done of the bush around Tshwane as I stayed in various BNBs outside of the city.

Bushveld trees

Here are some of the trees I have painted

Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary

I stayed in a B&B near the Austin Roberts bird sanctuary and took some time to sit in the coffee shop there. These are the watercolours I completed

The Pretoria skyline

Here are two paintings I did from the deck at the top of the Protea Hotel Marriott at Loftus Square in Tshwane. It was so cool ignoring the crowd and standing barefoot at my table drinking sparkling water and enjoying the view. That’s the Voortrekker monument in the background .

Flowers

Now and again I have painted the flowers. I am not sure what the little white ones are but the orange ones are called “Wildedagga” (wild dagga).

The Ostriches

Once I stayed in a place nextdoor to a farm where they had some ostriches. The weekend was something of a blur as I got very sick and spent most of the time lying sleeping in the sun on the lawn. But I did take some time to paint the ostriches

People

And of course the story would not be complete without some watercolours of people going about their business in P-town.

OK – one of them was a confused donkey in pyjamas.

Dinokeng

A final story. One Sunday afternoon I had time in Dinokeng and I sat at the gate of a place to paint the lovely big trees on the road. The owner came out and asked me what I was doing. He invited me in and showed me around. I sat on the verandah of this lovely house and did this painting of the view looking down the property. That is a braai thingy in the foreground. It was just a pleasant couple of hours.