Pandora Schep - Art for the Earth

What a wonderful holiday - what a wonderful garden route! Thank you to a very supportive and encouraging community. The experience of exhibiting my paintings in a Yurt at Scarab Market was awesome! Thank you to those who made a space for me and especially for the lovely company of Elke (Stargazer Yurt Homes) and Corrie du Ploy and the Sedgefield Art Society. Don't miss a visit as they will be exhibiting in the Yurt at Scarab in the coming couple of months. To crown my visit I enjoyed a 2hr swim from the Island to the Boathouse last evening...an ethereal glow lit the sky and flooded across Sedgefield, the lagoon and tied this gem in a crimson bow. I hope to post some paintings from references taken on my holiday from time to time and to be back in this beautiful part of the world soon!

In the Yurt at Scarab Market today - Welcome to Jubilee Creek!
I have spent a wonderful three weeks on the garden route! I am at Scarab Market today in that awesome space (Stargazer's Yurt Homes) with some original Jubilee Creek artwork I’ve painted this week (see pics and story hereunder) and a lovely selection of my original watercolour paintings as premium canvas prints in a variety of reasonably priced popular sizes. Hope to see you there!

This week’s paintings are inspired by a visit to Jubilee creek.
I spent much of the day painting while the girls (connecting for the first time in months) jabbered their heads off. The sun was dipping as we packed away and I hastily took some photos so I could finish my painting, wishing that I had taken them earlier for the light.
At first painting went well…and then I struggled. I could not get this magical light that illuminates river, forest and sky at Jubilee to flow from the tip of my brush.

What exactly was happening with the Jubilee light? What was happening with me? A bit more than three days later… with three paintings begun I was tossing and turning, losing sleep over something so elusive as light.

And then Thursday we went to Jubilee again for a picnic. Hooray!! I was so happy to go back! This time I walked upstream, took off my slops, wound my trousers up and got into the river. At last I could just hear the river speak, hold council with the rocks, the trees and the sun. Two shoals of fingerlings tickled my bare feet beneath the burnt sienna water, a clear crystal ball reflecting an exquisite pallet of colours. So unlike the KZN rivers that I have spent the past fifteen years working with, walking in, watching, caring for and teaching about (and painting).

My shadow is a cobalt and indigo explosion as I walk amidst the fiery flaming orange river. Abstract reflections gyrate in greens, yellows and whites. This is not something you can just see through a lens to experience, you have to get in! Feeling. Vibrant, sensory, energetic yet peaceful, tranquil and soothing, never overwhelming. This is what I want to express in the paintings.

So I make a list. What don’t I like about this painting? What do I love? It helps me focus. Can you believe I find eight things that just don’t work (for me). But here's the thing, as soon as I do that I can see how to set things right. Suddenly I find the light again, my focal point clears and I can enter deep into the forest. I make peace with the trees. The tea coloured Creek, with its myriad of moods, starts to flow.

Now it’s your turn to get in...listen…can you hear Christmas cicadas and the call of baboons? Welcome to Jubilee Creek. Protected Paradise into the future.

Pandora (Schep) Long
5 January 2024

I'm loving my holiday at Sedgefield along the Garden Route! I'll be exhibiting large canvas prints of my watercolour paintings in a YURT, at Scarab Market, Sedgefield 8.30 to 2pm this Saturday 30th Dec. Take a look through my pics and if you love the vibrant immersive nature of my work, do come by to take a look! My original watercolours are printed onto premium canvas, available this weekend from A5 to A1 size and priced from R275 to R2 400.00 or ordered to your specification. I will also have beautiful A6 (plus envelope) and A5 cards of my artwork available for R50 each.

The Yurt is an awesome space erected by Elke, who will be on hand to let you know the specs and purchase details of this awesome space. Being inside feels absolutely amazing! Looking forward to seeing you there! For telephone enquiries for orders or commissioned work phone Pandora Long on 072 6928124.

An all embracing Happy Christmas message from Pandora Schep – Art for the Earth

Leopard: Kintsugi Hope for the World
Original Watercolour/Mixed Media painting by Pandora Schep (Pandora Long)

This commission, done for a dear friend, symbolises love, peace, hope and goodwill on Earth. When things fall apart, no matter how long it takes, how impossible it looks, how difficult the journey and how torn and fragile the earths ecosystems and its creatures have become; patience, perseverance, collaboration and creativity brings hope for resilience, restoration and deep respect. In the Zulu words of the late Dr Ian Player, Hlonipa, Hlonipa, Hlonipa - Respect for self, Respect for others, Respect for Rivers (the Earth). This painting comes with love from the deepest mysterious Presence that connects us all.

It was a difficult piece, being over a metre wide by nearly that, on paper. After moving the board several times from artdesk to storage and back, two huge rents appeared which over the year developed further tears. (Yes, tears and tears) I effected a bond to a backing sheet of paper using a decoupage technique, but after stretching, that failed along the fault lines and the painting was now in three pieces. After a trip to our local framer, I got the materials together to bond the pieces to acid free backing board. Then came some very creative decisions. Working back into the repaired painting with water colour alone was not going to give sufficient body to the work. Instead I took clay and bonded it to the foreground rocks, sculpting it and pressing it with acacia leaves, grasses and river pebbles. Once dry, I tried watercolour over the clay, which worked in subtle beautiful ways, especially into the pressed areas. I then spent some time thinking about the painting and how I would depict the ‘cracks’… The conflict was about ensuring the piece was conservation art (can withstand the years without deterioration) and came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter actually, what mattered was that it symbolised how broken and torn our earth is, what matters most is the protection and conservation of our land and all the creatures and lifeforms therein. Why do we take so much trouble to ensure our artefacts are immortal when our earth, from whence they come, is taken for granted? The idea of turning the piece into a Kintsugi was born and I used gold paint on the cracks and to bring final form to the work. This painting encourages you to practice Earth conservation in considerate, creative and collaborate ways, no matter how shattered the Earth is (and you are by the futility of trying over and over again).

The leopard is set in the rocks in a beautiful valley alongside the Mpushini River. It is surrounded by a clump of white aloes that bloomed magnificently, along with their orange compatriots, once a year up until 2018. Together with the Azibuye Emasisweni AmaQamu Trust beneficiaries and other landowners and residents of the Lower Mpushini Valley we defended this land from Shabalala and the land cartel that bulldozed these beautiful protected giant aloes along with the rest of the hillside in an attempt to steal the land and develop illegally. Now some five years later it is again under threat. This time a glossy brochure advertises directly on Facebook ‘Rural Game Estate’ - ‘rates free land for sale’ and the land cartel grows rich at the expense of the valley. Already much of the Lionpark Road area has been sold off like this – on both Trust and private land – stolen land – the stolen heritage of our beloved South Africa. Our valley is now a meeting point for those committed to long standing democratic processes towards a long term conservation vision of a Protected Environment including appropriate, approved development, and those who commit and participate in environmental crime, for that is what this activity amounts to in law, stealing the land and developing without agricultural or environmental authorisation, Municipal planning, service agreements or controls. It has/is happening all over KZN and throughout our Country. Court orders and Appeals to all authorities at all levels of government have not resulted in any action. Cry, the Beloved Country for you are being stolen.
An oppressive, cancerous, corrupt cartel, including political elite, powerful business interests and opportunists (including those who buy the land) gain control of places and people. This colonisation and destabilisation comes at great cost to both people and place and the heritage of the children of South Africa and future generations to come. It is a politics of land theft, subversion, corruption and violence.

This leopard reminds us that there is power in land; that it is not ‘vacant’. It reminds us of the ethical and democratic process that must be considered and practiced if our country is to break free from oppression and opulence for the few. It reminds us that development is a collaborative democratic process, not only between people but a negotiation between all, human and non-human that make home there. It reminds us that the land, this land, our land, our valley, is filled with spirit. The rivers, hills, trees, grasses, minerals, creatures…everything is alive and connected and working towards love, peace, hope and goodwill of all on Earth. Irrespective of religion, today is a reminder of the birth of that Spiritual message.

To see my diary blog of 25 July 2018 that won The Witness, True Story of the Year 2018 follow this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-mnkgCJXfTw8plqAonny8xZ9pW9hp_99/view?usp=sharing

I am very excited to be doing a five day deep dive wirh The Becoming Artist by Jessica Serran. 2022 was a successful year in establishing my range of premium quality limited edition canvas art prints and had fun going to local markets, meeting new people and sharing my artwork. This year my focus is on getting gallery space for my original work, on pricing and marketing and growing an online business. I am also very excited to be announcing a series of workshops soon... A big thank you to everyone who has supported me as an artist on the rise, for encouragement with likes and comments and of course sales... I am so looking forward to engaging more and sharing my artmaking journey with you...

2023! Wishing you a wonderful new year! With a whole lot of new year cleaning and organizing going on in my studio I shifted by lastest work and being a really big format and on an even bigger board, something went wrong in the move and for the past few weeks I've been processing a heart breaking tear a third way across the bottom of the paper... I have spent so much time in planning and prepping and the painting was going so well... Usually anything thats not perfect I start again (yes, yes I know a bad psychological move) but this time something really exciting happened... I just could not abandon this work and I have been having so many creative ideas to collage this work in order to save it... so what this space.. As yet untitled..Leopard in progress.. Size 620 x 1005 cm...

Here's wishing you creativity and inspiration in the year ahead... may you turn your disappointments into triumphs...I will post the finished work as soon as I'm done...

Im enjoying the vibrant atmosphere of Cars in the Park at Ashburton Training Center today, if you are in the area do come and see my original watercolour artwork and limited edition canvas prints!

I will have original water colour artwork limited edition prints on premier quality boxframed canvas at the Shulfest Market, Hermansburg, this Saturday 14th May...do visit if you are in the KZN Midlands!

Its a beautiful day at the Ashburton Market at the Ashburton Training Centre after yesterday's steady downpour at Shongweni Farmers Market...lovely to have Hardlife, our Conservancy game guard with a stand alongside, raising funds to support monitoring our beautiful wildlife in the valley...

Pandora Schep - Art for the Earth will be at the The Shongweni Farmers & Craft Market this Saturday morning, 5th February, between 6.30 - 12.30. I produce original Water Colour art works that beautifies your home and supports Earth Stewardship. Standard or Custom size premium quality canvas prints are box framed with mirror edge to provide a seamless, visual modern experience, ready to hang without the need for decorative frames. You can also commission an original art work for your home, B&B or interior design project. I also offer nature-based workshops & classes here at Galago Farm, Centre for Education, Arts & Environment, in the Lower Mpushini Valley Conservancy, just 10 km east of Pietermaritzburg where you can develop, explore and express your creativity and deepen your connection with the Earth.

Lower Mpushini Valley: After the Rain - Plein Air Water Colour 320 x 510cm by Pandora Schep ...still wet from the process...

Here's the original framed Water Colour artwork 'Tamboti Forest: Pilgrimage for Mary Anne' hanging in Mary Anne Fanner's beautifully decorated guest bedroom. I am currently working on two artworks for the main bedroom which is a wonderful, but a super stressful commission, both being large works that have really drawn on my conceptualization, planning and preparation processes to ensure that these works are much more than 'decorative pieces'...the vision behind Pandora Schep - Art for the Earth is one of creating original Water Colour Art Work that beautifies your home and at the same time supports a message and action for Earth Stewardship in this critical time of local and global environmental crisis...

Here are my last two completed commissions for Equestre Self-Catering Accommodation, hanging in their respective units before and after. They really make a stunning compliment to Mary Anne Fanner's interior design elements! I am very excited to be working on another commission for the Protea suite and look forward to sharing that with you soon... I will have a stand at the Shongweni Farmers Market this Saturday 5th February, if you are in the area do pop in to chat about your interior design project, love of art and earth stewardship, which is what Pandora Schep - Art for the Earth is all about...

Best Wishes for 2022!
'Kudu Bull: Bejeweled Beauty'
Original Water Colour Painting by Pandora Schep (Pandora Long)

To welcome the new year in here are two commissioned paintings as canvas prints that I really loved creating for two beautifully coordinated units @ Equestre Self-Catering Accommodation...so rewarding to be working with Mary Anne Fanner on these and other works for Hewlett and Mary Anne's superbly appointed B&B and lovely home...Best wishes to my face-book followers for the New Year! I'll be continuing to build connections at local markets in KZN and develop my online presence this year...if you love my work and would like to find out more about prints I have on catalogue, original artwork and commissions, do contact me via Whattsap...these vibrant scenes are reflections of the magnificent beauty that surrounds me here in the Lower Mpushini Valley just east of Pietermaritzburg where I live and protect fiercely along with other members of our Conservancy...News to follow of my classes and workshops planned for 2022 ❤️ Hope you will be joining me!

'Tamboti Forest: Pilgrimage for Mary Anne' is a commission for a dear friend who I’ve known since my early twenties. Of all those that love and defend the beautiful bushveld of the Lower Mpushini Valley, Mary Anne is undoubtedly a fierce warrior, with a heart that stands resolute against ongoing onslaughts, and that melts for every creature’s, every habitat’s safety and well-being. Together we’ve faced both heartbreak and hopelessness, as TLB’s or chainsaws decimate an area and it’s too late to save forest societies of ancient trees and aloes… yet somehow we hold on to hope that these trees will live on...

This painting was inspired by the ‘plein air’ timelapse paiting I did, Tamboti Forest: The View From My Window which Mary Anne loved. It is of one of the oldest stands of Spirostachys africana (Tamboti or umthombothi (Zulu)), in the valley, some trees nearing their second century. In autumn, the leaves turn yellow and red, and the rough, dark, fissured bark of the great granddaddy trees stand out in stark contrast to the pale mottled grey of the younger trees and saplings. In the distance, stands of Dombeya cymosa (Smooth Wild Pear or ibunda (Zulu)) with their golden glow in the late afternoon sun, beckon the viewer into the forests sanctity…

This forest, like others in the valley, have seen human settlement for aeon’s - with artefacts from early and late stone age, as well as the iron age, evident in the valley. How is it that we have lost connection to these sacred places? How is it that they are bulldozed or felled with such disregard? I hope this painting will help immortalize the beauty of the Lower Mpushini Valley and share a passionate wish to protect its fauna and flora for generations to come.

Thank you Mary Anne Fanner for commissioning this artwork, it was a challenging and rewarding journey!

This was a super special project for Mary Anne Fanner of Equestre Self-Catering Accommodation, Ashburton, KZN! Mary Anne has an exceptional flair for decorating and she has done the rooms to perfection - adding the artwork from Pandora Schep - Art for the Earth was so exciting as each painting complimented each unit perfectly! Thank you Equestre Self-Catering Accommodation for such a lovely post!

It's a beautiful Heritage Day

Come and have a look!

https://www.facebook.com/The-Hilton-train-station-Craft-Garden-Show-109042191496438

Each Winter I coordinate the Ashburton Aloe Festival to raise funds for our Conservancies anti-poaching activities. This year we had to postpone until Spring to host the event because of Covid.

I am super excited to be presenting Pandora Schep - Art for the Earth original artwork and photographic art on canvas prints of a variety of sizes for sale. They have come out beautifully and I will be posting some pictures soon with a e-shop to follow.

I can't wait to do a new painting tomorrow after taking these glorious pictures of Spring breathing her colours into the waning Winter landscape... Do support our Ashburton Aloe Spring Festival event if you are close-by and visit my exhibit at Galago Farm. So looking forward to meeting some of my facebook followers!

SEE FB PAGE https://www.facebook.com/AshburtonAloeFestival2021/ for the full programme, times and map.

Come by Ashburton Country Market to see some of Pandora Schep's Original Art and Original Art printed onto Canvas!

Tree Star: 'Hidden Growth'

We can learn a lot from trees: they’re always grounded but never stop reaching heavenward.”

~Terri Guillemets, “Humans and Nature”

Trees remind me that life is not about perfect moments, perfect compositions and perfect paintings...as magnificent as their growth is in summer, come autumn many loose their leaves and remain dormant through winter, they stand tall until suddenly after heavy rains, a branch falls...a storm uproots and a flash flood scours the bank on which they stood resolute for years... yet always there will be new growth, a coppice, seedlings, brand new shoots to catch the sunlight and bring hope in a fleeting moment as a perfect star shines on the wonder of hidden growth...

Tamboti Forest: 'The View From My Window'

For ‘Arts for the Earth’ pricing; to purchase an original painting or to arrange a commission; to discuss framing options and the purchase of prints; to find out more about my artwork and design products or for an inspiring chat about the ecological restoration of that special part of the Earth that you love, please contact Pandora Long nee Schep on WhatsApp, email [email protected] or send a direct message on Facebook messenger.

Please help to support by liking and sharing!

A timelapse of the painting process: https://www.facebook.com/PandoraSchepArtfortheEarth/videos/3217843618239815/

Gansbaai: 'Of Day's Gone By'

My Mom (Ann Schep) spent much of her childhood growing up in Gansbaai. When she saw this painting she traced her hand along its shoreline and down the sandy path to the end of the harbour quay. "I used to run along here as a girl..." she smiled as memories flooded back, "then as teenagers, your Dad took up running just so that he could get to bump into me!"

Just like my Mom, Gansbaai was wild and beautiful then...my Mom, at 90, still is...and she still outwalks us all. Isn't that the magic of place, connecting us all with treasured memories. Especially now with ourselves... our loved ones, struggling with the loss of freedom during shutdown. It is these memories, that when shared, create those special moments that years from now will again see us through troubled times.

This is one of my much-loved paintings, it is in my private collection.

For ‘Arts for the Earth’ pricing; to purchase an original painting or to arrange a commission; to discuss framing options and the purchase of prints; to find out more about my artwork and design products or for an inspiring chat about the ecological restoration of that special part of the Earth that you love, please contact Pandora Long nee Schep on WhatsApp, email [email protected] or send a direct message on Facebook messenger.

Leopard: ‘The One at Python Pool’

For ‘Arts for the Earth’ pricing; to purchase an original painting or to arrange a commission; to discuss framing options and the purchase of prints; to find out more about my artwork and design products or for an inspiring chat about the ecological restoration of that special part of the Earth that you love, please contact Pandora Long nee Schep on WhatsApp, email [email protected] or send a direct message on Facebook messenger.

Leopard: ‘The One at Python Pool’

Those of you who have suffered great loss will know what I mean when I say, “It takes time.” But if anyone should ask, “What takes time?” or “How much time” I don’t think there is an easy answer. As I sit here and think back to which painting I last painted, I realise with sudden knowing that it was also a leopard, painted shortly before my husband, Wilfred (Winks) died. I painted it for a fundraiser at my daughters’ school, Ridge. It was won by a delighted couple where I hope it still adorns a wall in their home. This painting, Leopard: ‘In the Tamboti Forest on iPithi’s (Dad’s) Trail’ is the banner for my page, ‘Art for the Earth’

I’ve called my latest painting, Leopard: ‘The One at Python Pool’.

If you have a creative bone about you, you will also know what I mean when I say, “It takes time.” Again, there are no easy answers. The “What takes time?” are countless decisions and procrastinations; some conscious, most unconscious, some intuitive, below the radar, from free-fall exhilaration to anxiety invoking choices, where to next? Planning, composition, colour, contrast, technique but above all, it is about problem-solving, mostly non-rational. The deeper I am into a painting the more difficult it gets, the easier it is to just stop and the more it becomes about diving from the known to discover the unknown. Risking all. This takes time. While painting… between painting… after painting. Then in one magic moment, somehow my hand puts the brush down. My heart knows the paintings done. Finished. I’m at its end. At this point, I don’t look. I just get up and walk in another direction.

“How much time?” you ask. This leopard took time. Eternity perhaps. And twelve years of that, waiting, wishing always for a brighter green. More spring. More growth. More river. Then at the start of 2020 as the Coronavirus brought half the world to a halt, Tiana and Cara-Ann (my daughters) encouraged me to get painting again. First a sketch. Then worked up into a full-size composition. Finding the courage to start painting took longer. This is a time for many when the world (the world as we know it) is ending. When we need to find new beginnings. The courage to go on.

Like most, I too, was so busy. My world didn’t want ending: contract teaching around social issues, environment and sustainability; two quarry fights on the go; river care team to supervise; taking care of things in the valley; sorting things; cleaning. More cleaning. Doing dishes while the virus ravaged the world.

But as any creative knows, difficult times are not idle times. Shutdowns are familiar territory. They send us within where the task is made known. In its own time, the plan unfolds. The seasons come. Colours change. Shadows melt. Ideas grow.

And then South Africa locked down abruptly. Midnight Thursday 26th April 2020. But I kept on going. I started painting. It was not easy to do. “How can I paint when there are people sick, hungry, cramped at close quarter”, I asked. How can I paint when people are fearful? Afraid of a virus so contagious that we are forbidden to do the thing we are born to do. Embrace. Love. I touch and feel my way around the world! This is so disorientating. I need to feel the world in my arms. Can I paint when the world is dying? Surely a world in mourning needs my arms around it? Can I paint a world that needs healing?

So I reach inside to find my comfort. The story of place. And I find one of my earliest memories as a newly-wed, eighteen years of age and settled in a little valley just east of Pietermaritzburg.

It goes like this:

I have a puppy that I love. A Golden Retriever named Bongo. Dark Golden, silky fur. Deep bark. Precious. In the bottom of the valley runs a stream. A beautiful stream. Bright clean water cascading over rocks. Bongo loves water. I love rivers. We sit in a little waterfall in the shade of a huge rock above a deep pool. We play and splash. I love the sounds the water makes. I love the vibrant colours, the dappled shadows mirrored in the pool. Suddenly my throat jumps out of my skin. My heart pounds. Vervets are shouting from the treetops. I stare, rooted to the rock. My mind is in fear-fall and it disappears through an emptiness in my gut. Giant patterned coils ripple through the shimmering pool below. A wedge-shaped head with bright black eyes and pronged tongue strikes me into action. Bongo is under one arm. The other is outstretched for balance. I leap the boulders, scramble the bank and burst through the bush. I run several hundred meters up the steep road and throw myself into the kitchen and shut the door fast. Lock it. I’m finished.

You laugh!? Well so do I… now. That pool remains a favourite place of mine, for all our family. We call it Python Pool. The giant rock?... You got it… Python Rock. Some forty years later I know the wildlife in the valley well. Not much frightens me now. But perhaps a leopard might, standing, staring into the unknown at Python Pool.

During shutdown I’ve been walking the valley’s steeply incised, bush-clad hills. An Essential Service. What is it about a shutdown that brings the poachers out? Guns and all? While out tramping old haunts, it’s coming together for me. A forest of Euphorbia triangularus. Majestic arms stretch skywards. An outcrop of granite with a view over Table Mountain (KZN). The River. Python Pool. Memories. Good ones. Freedom.

And so it is, that in time, I reach for my colours and start to walk the steeply incised bush-clad hills within. Essential Service. I look for colours, patterns, shapes, shadows. Above all, I look for the light within. Then I gather all I know and dive into the unknown as my brush dips deep into the ‘river beneath rivers. And finally, I paint. Freely.

Everywhere I walk the leopard goes with me. I am not afraid when we walk. He doesn’t leave me till I’m done. Then there he is, revealed. An Essential Connection. An immaterial moment in time. Manifest. Colours. Patterns. Shapes. Shadows. The sky. The bush. The Pool. Life. Reflections. Light. Always light. Streaming everywhere, beautiful, beaming, bouncing, be-fore, behind, beneath, to be-in.

I am unsure what it is, that in the end compels me to take a good look. Often I put leopards and the like upside down, back to front, inside out, as reflections in a green pool. Most often what I see at first, are the clumsy parts. Something unsaid, half a reality. Sometimes it is laboured, like the curtain is too drawn. Often, at this point, I sense a great welling up of discord and disappointment. Sometimes it shuts me down. For a while. I fear having a virus. Something someone will catch from me. Something they don’t like. At times, I fear to show myself, to be out on the streets. Mostly it’s unavoidable at first, when I bring newness to light. Then somehow I get over it, look for what’s good to share and share the beautiful bits. I assemble confusion into comfort, gain clarity and find coherence.

I watch the world, helpless from my phone. The COVID-19 chats, news, memes. Disaster, disarray, disharmony, panic. Pandemic. And yet I see something quite remarkable. Despite the fear and loss, I see the beautiful bits. I see the spirit of nature, looking over its shoulder to find new expression, new growth. A brighter green in the days to come. And in unison, expectant, I hear the Earth sing.

Leopard: ‘The One at Python Pool’.
Pandora Schep Long 10 April 2020

For ‘Arts for the Earth’ pricing; to purchase an original painting or to arrange a commission; to discuss framing options and the purchase of prints; to find out more about my artwork and design products or for an inspiring chat about the ecological restoration of that special part of the Earth that you love, please contact Pandora Long nee Schep on WhatsApp, email [email protected] or send a direct message on Facebook messenger.