The other side of Harties - Maree

"...try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever ... merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape..."
- Claude Monet



For me, this is "the other side of Hartebeespoort Dam" (also known as Harties) - not the usual route we always take over the dam wall, but turning off at Van Gaalen's Cheese Farm and going into the Villa D'Afrique housing estate - the estate has got a wildness about it, away from the normal hustle and bustle of the dam, very peaceful and quiet. This is watercolour in my Moleskine watercolour sketch-book.

I found a comfortable rock, prepared my palette and just put the colour straight on the paper, with no sketching, starting with the water - the reflections were great and high above the the Magaliesberg mountains the vultures were soaring, not in my pic, making use of the warm thermals to gain height. A perfect day for sketching!