Monday, March 22, 2010

Earth Hour! 27 March 2010





Earth Hour - Proudly Committed

On 27 March we can be part of a wonderful action to give a bit back to our planet AND be part of making of history!!!!

 

Turn out your light, show support
borrowed from www.Earth Hour.com
In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour.
Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future.


I am going to do my part for Earth Hour AND have fun doing it. I will invite lots of friends and I will have ample marshmallows, on long fireproof sticks, ready with candles - lots of it - and I will have my best ghost and scary stories ready.  ;-) I will even allow visitors to bring a flashlight for effect!

During this our we will celebrate earth and be thankful that we are a part of it. There will be lots of laughter during this hour. We can even sing songs and clap hands and dance if the need rise ;-) It all depends on how scary my scary stories are ;-)


Are you ready for this important hour?
Are you ready to start a tradition?
Are you ready to give back in a teeny tiny way?

I am!
Please do join me and Pledge your support here and turn off your lights for one hour, Earth Hour, 8.30pm, Saturday 27th March 2010.








Friday, March 19, 2010

Things that happened this week

This week was ever so strange. Have you ever had a day that turned out to be really really weird? Like the whole universe was Topsy Turvy and you were standing on your head trying to whistle the national anthem while chewing a Marie Biscuit?

Well, that was sort of like my week went. Weird, strange and unusual. Monday was my painting day. I had to finish the artwork for Gideon's album launch. I could see and hear he was not happy with my interpretation of it. So it had to be redone. I wasted a few tubes of paint, but what the heck! I changed it to his specifications and he was happy.
Tuesday - anniversary = 25 years together. Wow, that is a life time! Out of this 25 years we lived nearly for 10 years out side of South Africa. Gideon surprised me in the middle of the night with gifts and midnight snacks! The day of our anniversary was not something I would write poems about. Next time I prefer to be swept away in a hot-air balloon or Jet to a tropical island where I can idle in the sun and not worry about anything or anybody.

Like I mentioned before, I finished the artwork Gideon wanted and must say it was a very easy image to do, but hard to do it. I had something totally different in mind than he did. But eventually I got it done like he wanted it. The only thing left is to put on the real stings on the painted guitar.
Here is a picture of it nearly done:

If you could touch it, you would see that it has different textures on the guitar.
  • The glittery thingies at the bottom are real silvery glass beads
  • Real silver textured stars were used at the circle
  • Textured paste was used for effect on the background
  • Gold paint was used on the background on the raised areas
  • Copper wire was used at the circle for a raised textured feeling
  • The outlining of the Guitar was done with rope that was painted and with silver pinstripes on both sides
  • The fret was raised a bit with gel and then painted white
  • On the inside of the circle I used calligraphy to write the albums name and the band's name
  • The naked silhouette of the woman was done to be as near as possible to the guitar's colour.
We have a long weekend, but it is actually cramped with other obligations. Pity. Have not seen Gideon last week much. He was very busy going out early to work and coming home late. He even started the long weekend working later than 8 0'clock!

David arrived from university early on Friday as a surprise to Gideon and Dante. We decided to do a pizza night. It was NOT a good move. We normally do Debonair's but they did not answer the phone!!!! I then was summoned to go buy pizza at our local Mall - I think Pizza Perfect it was. Their pizza's are NOT worth going back for seconds. Pizza's should not be soggy and falling apart if you pick a slice up.

Saturday we overslept a bit, but then quickly got into gear as we had to go and find a photo shop that does slide development (for David's project at uni) Tough luck! We searched high and low, but nothing! At long last we got info that it could be done in Pretoria, but we would not be in time to get there before closing time. David has to go and do that on his own now on Tuesday.

We had a brunch at Green Stone Mall and came home to see Gideon rush off again to Liedjieboer for a Potjiekos thing. I decided that it would be better to join him a bit later as I needed a breather and David had to study. Dante was just doing Dante stuff ;-)

The Potjiekos thing actually was not too bad. We had a great meal and some live music. Carle van Deventer has a huge voice!!! Wow!

Today (Sunday) we had a bit of a rest - of some sorts. I did washing, sorting things out, updating Facebook and Redbubble and trying to sort out my Blogs. Tomorrow will be different. We are going to friends for a barbecue and as I see it, we will be there for a long time.

My week was not going as I planned, neither did my weekend so far. I am going to stick to my planning for this week - come hell or high water!

  • On Tuesday I am going to see a dietitian - I need to get myself and Dante in an organized and controlled ritual concerning eating habits.
  • Then I will hit the malls to go and look for a jean for Dante as his is falling apart - maybe I can spoil myself too with a nice designer jean ;-) hmmmmm
  • Artwork to be started and finished will be sorted
  • Cleaning and sorting the house will also need to happen somewhere as Gideon's Dad and Ouma Dirkie is planning to visit us by Friday.
On Wednesday I will carry on doing my artwork ~ nothing else

On Thursday I will still be doing my artwork ~ no interruptions allowed (maybe Facebook now and then and also Redbubble here and there)
Hmmmmmmmm I forgot, Oupa will arrive on Thursday! Oh well!


On Friday my itinerary is still open for suggestions.....
  • maybe coffee at Mugg & Bean
  • maybe taking the day off and doing nothing
  • maybe going to the movies
  • maybe......
Now to think and plan too far ahead is also not good.
One needs to be able to be impulsive and mysterious too

I will let you know what I did on those moments ............


Blessings
Have a stunning week!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Promoting myself!!!

Susan van Zyl

These are some of the images on my profile on Redbubble

Promotion Time!

♫.•°°African Art At heART°°•.♫


These are images in a slide show from the group that I host on Redbubble.
Enjoy

Some of my old artworks Page 1

I did this one without any reference material and love the way the flowers turned out
This was my very first attempt at a still life. I lived in Holland at the time and tried to join a art class where I can be taught, but only could get into a more leveled up class where no teaching per se happened.
This was done in Holland. It was sort of a Chinese theme going for about 2 months in the above mentioned class.
Chinese vase and pot in the same theme as mentioned above.
An abstract with pastels. Soft pastels. It turned out quite well.
In as book or on the internet I found this exercise in Water colours, that I tried
A water colour I did from a photograph. This was difficult!
I wanted to do some season paintings. This was Autumn

Somtyds


Somtyds wonder mens waarheen jy oppad is.
Somtyds wonder mens of jy ooit oppad is.
Somtyds wonder mens of daar 'n pad is.....
Somtyds wonder mens maar net....

Die naweek was woes deurmekaar. Alles was in fast forward. Ek like niks van fast Forward nie. My skoene skop diep in 'n rem "mode" as ek fast froward gevoelens kry. Dieselfde skoene wil dan sommer die ou wat die fast forward gebeure in beweging sit 'n skop op die agter ent gee.

Die naweek begin toe mos waar ons Vrydag vir Anton Goosen sou gaan luister by Steak & Ale, maar die gebeur toe nie omdat die plek al reeds vol bespreek was toe gebel word. Ons sou toe 'n ander Show gaan luister by die LiedjieBoer in Midrand, maar die gebeur ook toe nie. Eintlik gelukkig want ek het geweet die naweek sou bitter besig wees en ek hou nie van besige naweke nie.

Vrydagaand reën toe ook nog. Daar moes vir David 'n kamera ge-salvage word, en 'n printer met kabels vir projekte op uni, en films vir die kamera. Die spesifieke kamera was in die studio en ek moes dit in die donderweer en bliksemslae gaan haal - in die donker boon-op. Toe moes ek al geweet het die naweek gaan glad nie volgens Susan se planne loop nie. Nee.

Saterdagoggend vroeg op. Daar word haastig reggemaak om betyds te wees om David se items vir hom in Pretoria te gaan aflaai. Ons sou 7uur vertrek, wat toe later 8uur geword het. By TUT aangekom, items afgelaai, moes David 'n crash course kry in film kamera tegnieke ens. David lyk goed, maar baie gefrustreed met die ontgroening. Ons groet weer haastig.

Oppad na die Pierneef teater besef ek dat ek honger is en nie geëet het nie. Digby die Pierneef Teater is daar gelukkig 'n eetplekkie en ons kon ontbyt nuttig. Heerlik verby. Maar dit was gou sluk en verteer jou kos eers later sake. By die Pierneef was dit helemaal ongemaklik ingerig. Die stoele was ietsies te naby aan mekaar, met geen verby loop spasie sou jy wou uitloop nie. Ons het agter gesit wat sekerlik beter was, maar daar was nie eintlik beweeg ruimte nie.

Om 10h00 begin die show. Lochner de Kock en Tossie Lochner wat gesels, grappies maak en kook. Dit was die eerste keer wat ek so iets bywoon en weet nie regtig wat ek daarvan dink nie. Nee, ek jok, ek het wel 'n paar sterk gedagtes daaroor met Gideon gewissel. Ons laat dit dan maar liewers daar.

Ek vind die tips wat Lochner so tussen deur sy aanbieding gegee het uiters bruikbaar en nuttig. En al was dit al wat ek daar weggeneem het, was dit dan ook die moeite werd.

Toe wil ons jaag om Gideon se kitaar vir reperasies in te handig, maar kom ook nie baie ver daarmee nie. 'n Oproep van Lochner laat ons omdraai. Ons sou die namiddag by Jahn en Carla gaan rugby kyk en braai. Min wetende dat die gaan gebeur op Lochner se eiendom. Dus kon ek nie eers huiswaarts keer om my effens meer gevat uit te dos nie, geen grimering aan my gesig nie en al ons proviant is nog tuis.

Om 'n kort storie lank te maak ;-) - Ons moes toe by die Spar in Melville proviant gaan koop. Braai vlies, koeldrank en drank.

Wat 'n mooi huis het Lochner nie. Ai en daar staan 'n moeviese groot eike boom in sy erf. Die huis het 'n wrap-around stoep, met sulke nice sterligte aan die stoepdak. net buite die voordeur is 'n tafeltjie met 2 stoeltjies waarop jare se drome gedroom kan word. Die mure is dik en stewig. Die venster rame is van hout en mens kan sien dat die onlangs gestroop is van verf wat iemand onverantwoordelik op die ou geelhout rame (dink ek)geverf het. Selfs die houtvloer is met wit verf vermoor. Maar ek is verseker dat die verf ook gaan afkom. Die plafon sit hoog met die allerfraaiste patrone. Hy het 2 boekrakke vol met kookboeke. Sekerlik meer as 'n 1000! Die kombuis is so cool! Dit blyk of dit eers 'n stoep was wat toegebou is want dit is 'n lang smal kombuis, met 'n klein spensie en outydse kaste. In die rakke en kaste pryk daar outydse borde en koppies. Aan die eenkant vand ie kombuis, amper weggesteek, pryk 'n groot silver gasstoof, en net so om die draai van die stoof is 'n kleinerige "inloop" yskas hoekie.

Jahn was op sy stukke en baie funny. Hy kan onderhoudend gesels oor alles en nog wat. Hy het selfs vir Dante laat skaterlag. Wat ek wel vreemd gevind het is dat die gasvroue net hallo ges^e het en dat ek hulle nie weer verder die dag gesien het nie.

Verrassing - Dorette en Rikku en klein Lea Lana Lee, daag toe ook op. Pragtige en vriendelike poppie, die Lea Lana Lee. Rikku is nie beskikbaar as daar rugby is nie. Hy raak ook vreeslik opgewonde as hy rugby kyk - Jahn ook ;-)

Wat het ek heerlik gekuier by Locher en aan sy lippe gehang oor al die staaltjies wat hy vertel, al die skerp uitlatings wat hy maak en sy humor wat deurslaan met elke vertelling. Gideon het ook heerlik saam gekuier. Maar op 'n stadium wou ek huistoe gaan.

Sondagoggend was ek moeg toe ek opstaan. Ek kon nie my oë oophou nie. Ek het die hond uitgelaat en weer gaan slaap. Tot 10uur!!!! Verpligtinge nagekom en om 1uur besluit ons dat ons winkels toe wou gaan. Ons het by Mike's Kitchen die allerheerlikste hamburgers en fluweelsagte dibbeldik melkskommels gehad. Dit is toe dat die pawpaw die fan strike! Die klein bietjie kos en melkskommel het my maag so trommeldik laat voel en staan. Ongemaklik verby. Net skielik. Dit kom nou van stadig eet en elke happie "savour" By die huis gekom en dadelik weer gaan slaap. Kon net nie anders nie. Ek was die heledag verder sommer net 'n zombie!

Vandag was uiters tros. Tros verby. My liggaam wou nie vandag in eerste rat kom nie. Ek wou soveel doen, en het nie! Ek kon FineArts doen en ek kon Redbubbel doen en ek kon Facbook doen en dit was dit. Nee, ek jok, ek het darem 2 ladings wasgoed ook gedoen!

Ek wonder net......somtyds of ek oppad erens heen was die naweek.
Ek wonder soms....
Ek weet nie