Art in my life

Wire flower ~ Jenniflower

Ever since I was a bolshy little tomboy of a girl, I have wanted to paint. Create with my hands from my heart. I always said that when I grew up I wanted to be an art teacher or a full-time artist. I have fulfilled both those dreams, and am still dreaming...

I don't believe we are given our specific talents and desires (whether it's artistic, musical, mathematical, being a farmer or an astronaut!) for no reason. We are meant to use them productively, and if we can use them to benefit others in some way, all the better! :) I have always loved to express myself through my art and I hope to continue to do so the rest of my life.

The African Boy ~ Jenniflower

Background...

Born and bred in sunny and turbulent South Africa, I have a deep love and respect for her diverse cultures and fascinating heritage. She is a fundamental part of my life, and I try to encounter her in all her beauty, tragedy, glory and stark reality in my work, whether with a paintbrush, pliers or my bare hands.

The African Boy is an all-time favourite painting. I was a young sprite when I did it. I photographed a young boy at my mum's nursery school, and added in the sugarcane and the styalised birds etc. He speaks of pain and uncertainty, and is questioning what's going on around him. This is symbolic of what was going on in South Africa at the time (early 1990's) ~ young kids couldnt understand what was essentially an unanswerable question.

I qualified as a Graphic Designer at Wits Technikon, Johannesburg (now called the University of Johannesburg), in 1995. I studied Art History, Marketing, Illustration, Drawing, Black & White Photography, Advertising, Conceptual Studies, Technical Drawing and Printing. My art and designs are of varying styles, themes and genre.

The Roman Man ~ Jenniflower

I thoroughly enjoy painting and drawing... most often starting off with an inspiration and not being too sure of what the finished product will look like! I like to get my hands messy and get 100% involved. ie: The phone's taken off the hook / turned OFF! lol I think all artists do! :) I have a drawing of the head of this leopard too.

The leopard ~ Jenniflower

I enjoy painting layer over thick layer of oil paint, combined with found objects. One painting I did in 1997 took ONE whole year to dry... I had literally used the tube of paint as the paintbrush, and used alot of 'found' objects, things that people throw away... It was brilliant. I loved the whole process.

Living in my favourite city ~ London

We arrived in the 'Ole Smoke' on an autumny September morning in 2002, queueing in that not-so-lovely, long, South African passport queue, found our weary way to the underground and on to the place where we could rest our heads. This was my first time in London, and my first time abroad! A far cry from the little postcards I received when young, of red buses and black taxis.. this was reality! Hands on stuff. I was filled with a curious mix of trepidation, excitement, nervousness and elation! London did not disappoint.

What to see pray tell?

The Theatre
Museums and Galleries
The Parks
The Streets
The Architecture
The River
The melting pot of People

Then of course there is the typical city scenarios of traffic congestion, pollution and irritable commuters... but let's not go there ;)

Londoners have always been keen on going out to the theatre or concert hall: maybe it's something to do with the weather!? ;) Anyway, they pride themselves on the fact that they opened up proper theater to the masses in the 1700s.

I was interested to note that Kat (keida84 on VT), stated that London's Phantom of the Opera is better overall than Broadway's... For her (she is a lady who knows what she's talking about, having been in this production herself!) to say that, was quite something. I have seen that production 3 times alone... yeah... the theatre is very good here :)

Need I say more? Go by foot, boat, bus, tube or train (car not recommended in Central London), but go. I live and work in this city and, although it is tiring and sometimes I get so frustrated with living in a city, I am, as yet, not tired of it, as it is an incredible city.

A couple of sites that are very handy when visiting London:

Days Out Guide ~ they offer 2for1 specials on many London landmarks, tours and concerts (BIG money saver!)
Transport for London ~ important to check in case they have any transport problems, plus great for routing your route!
Gumtree ~ for all kinds of things... from short term accommodation to buying a second-hand bicycle :)
BBC ~ local and international news/weather etc.

St James Market, a Sir Christopher Wren church!

Experience Addo at night

During the evenings they have proper guided tours of the park. We went on one. It cost us R160 each.

We sat in a chair on a high Landrover and proceeded into the cold night.

The guide was very good, as was the driver. They seemed to know exactly where the animals were, as if they had asked the animals to be there especially for the tour.

They were knowledgable and friendly. This was a real treat. I didn't take a photo in the dark, not wanting to frighten the animals away!

No citrus in the park!

Do not bring any kind of citrus fruits into Addo Elephant Game Park if it can be helped. Oranges, pineapples, clementines, naartjies etc. The park has decent fences around the it, but in times past, it didn’t, and animals used to get out of the park and into the citrus fruit trees and eat whatever they could find.

Naturally this enraged the local farmers and many elephants were shot, maimed and killed because of it. Animals have excellent memories generally, especially elephants, and they associate the smell of citrus fruits, with that of pain and suffering. This might make them restless and even angry, so best to play it safe and not bring them into the park.

Addo Elephant National Game Park

Flower's Addo

In 2001 we went on the most glorious honeymoon. We went to a game park and two national parks. This was the game park. The other national parks were Wilderness and Tsitsikamma :)

Our first stop was Addo Elephant Park. It is located 72 km north of Port Elizabeth, a pleasant and easy drive, in the Sundays River Valley and Zuurberg Mountain range. A beautiful area.

The land of the tusk and trunk

This park is expanding, which is really exciting. Land is being claimed for the preservation of the wildlife of South Africa! It is currently 148 000 hectares, and the plan is to extend it to 360 000 hectares (to the coast), and call it the ‘Greater Addo’ Park. It will then become a 'Big 7' park, incorporating whales and sharks on its coast. This is not only great news for the animals and plant life of Addo, but also for tourism for the local community and the Eastern Cape as a whole.

Most of South Africa’s game parks are in the northern areas of the country, so this is a welcome retreat, being on the south coast of the country. If you feel like a relaxing break away, with some good game viewing included, this is the perfect place to visit.

As you venture into the entrance two huge elephant skulls greet you. Very appropriate.

They are almost saying ‘Welcome to my world’.

Guided hikes and walks

They offer a 3 to 4 hour trail called the Spekboom Day Trail.

It takes place close to the botanical section of the park and is relatively safe. The guide will always carry a gun with him anyway, in case a lion/other predator does appear.

This photo above was taken from our verandah at our cottage. You can see how close the elephant is to us in the photo... the fences are so close by.

It's wonderful :)

The best place to view animals is at watering holes.

A really good watering hole here is the Harpoor watering hole. This name comes form the renowned elephant Harpoor, who deeply distrusted and hated human beings. He was shot at (so who can blame him!?)

Elephants congregate here in large groups, anything from 12 to 40 at a time, so it’s a great place to view them interacting with one another.

Best time to view them drinking is early morning and then dusk. In the searing heat of the day they tend to stay in shady areas.

Bird watching!

There are over 400 species of birds in the park. They come up to your outside table, as many are quite tame around humans now.

There are a couple of bird hides in the park too, and these are lovely places to just go and sit for a couple of hours, silently watching the life in front.

In the photo my husband is checking out the life around us fromthe verandah of our cottage. One doesn't have to go far to feel like you are in animal and bird country here :)

Do not forget your binoculars!

Addo Elephant cottages: under the thatch under the stars!

We stayed in a thatch-roofed Dutch-colonial styled bungalow, were the last in a row, so we had extra privacy, which was wonderful. We were so close to the animals (fenced off).

It sleeps four, so with just the two of us, it was so spacious! It has a bathroom (where I made my husband a lovely petal bath), and an open plan living are and kitchen, which led onto the veranda.

Everything was very comfortable, clean and inviting. It was serviced daily with fresh bedding and towels. They do have a campground area where you can stay too, as well as rondavels which cater for different amounts of people..

Bally roads!!

The roads in the rest camp of Addo are tarred, but the roads in the park are sand and gravel. We have been to quite a few game parks, and we found some of the roads here the worst we have ever found.

Hopefully they have flattened the sand roads a bit since, but when we were there it was incredibly bumpy in some areas and this is not fun.

Interestingly enough (although I am not sure this had anything to do with the bumpy road), the steering wheel came off (yes, it just came off!) whilst we were driving.

We were doing the speed limit, so we could stop almost immediately.

My husband had his penknife with him and fixed it. NOT the place to become stranded, especially as there is no phone signal or anything. We would have had to wait for a passer by to raise the alarm had we been unable to fix it.

Handy little Swiss Army knife!

We got back to the cottage and he spent the rest of the afternoon surveying the bushveld around us up on the verandah pillar... not wanting to venture into the car for a little while.

Understandable... ;)

Perimeter fences are there for a reason...

Addo Elephant Game Park was one of three honeymoon destinations in 2001. Oh, how we loved it! There's nothing better than to be under the blue African sky, on red hot African soil, taking in the unrelenting African heat.

Paradise.

Or not?

A man was killed in Addo Elephant Game Park in 2005.

He was trespassing and was walking in an area he shouldn’t have been in, and, besides the fact he was trespassing, that area is home to predators and other animals that are ferociously guarded and protective around their young.

A female elephant charged at him and killed him. Upon doing their routine fence patrol, park guards found him, trampled in the vegetation.

Do NOT get out of your cars when in the game park area. Be responsible at all times!

My 30th birthday London celebrations

Jen’s 30th bday celebrations - January 2004

Christmas 2003

Christmas, New Year & Winchester - Dec 2003

Our 2nd wedding anniversary in Oxford, England

Oct 2003 - Oxford wedding anniversary