New work: Home

Home: Silence Has An Echo

This painting shows Lion's Head, which is situated right next to Table Mountain and overlooks Cape Town. The work forms part of my "Home" series, focused on the theme of homecoming, nesting and what 'home' means to me. I started working on this series in an attempt to explore my feelings and fears after we moved to another flat not far from where we used to live in view of Table Mountain. 

Breathe And Believe, W:34cm x H:67cm (unframed), R1 650

Bound By Earth,  W:16cm x H:59.5cm (unframed), R1 500

New Nuances work: Cape Columbine

Cape Columbine

photo montage

limited edition print on acid free art paper

84 x 84 cm

Edition size: 5 (4 available for sale)

2012

This Nuances work is inspired by and created from photographs I took while walking on the coastline of, and South of, Paternoster on the West Coast. The mark of (hu)man is evident in most of the areas along this coastline, but it remains an amazing and breath-taking stretch of sand, rocks and marine life. Protected areas such as the West Coast National Park and the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve (CWCBR) are very important in protecting sea life, animal life, fynbos and intricate eco system(s) found on the West Coast of South Africa.

Buy yours now at StateoftheArt.co.za

Marloth Nature Reserve, Swellendam

Landscape, peace and sunshine!

Nuances: a story unfolds

My Nuances series is featured in the fall issue of Seastories.org! About Sea Stories:

Sea Stories is Blue Ocean Institute’s quarterly online journal of international ocean writing and art.  Our mission is to nurture curiosity, creativity, and concern about the world’s oceans through literary and artistic expression.

Check it out...

New Nuances work

Nuances: In Die Vertes Van Gister
digital print on acid free art paper - limited edition of 5.
70cm x 36cm (paper size, unframed)
2011

"Karooland, Kalahari
met skaap, berg en sand
ooptes en sielerus, en manna uit die veld

Keiskamma, Kareepit
lafenis vir boer en kind
grasse, skaars water en dier se plesier

Kremetartveld, Kripvirdrink
grondpad na êrens
waar mens en natuur saam woed en weef."

The Nuances series are composite landscapes that subtly represent the natural landscape as a memory instead of reality, as humankind ceases to change their habits and abuse of resources with their unsustainable lifestyle, causing the extinction of natural life on our planet. This work breaks away from this general theme by depicting what we still have - and should thus preserve and protect - in parts of our country, especially in the Northern Cape and Karoo. This work has been inspired by the sweeping landscapes of these areas, as well as plans by gas companies to conduct highly controversial and environmentally detrimental - hydraulic fracture mining.

Driving into the smog

On my way from Pretoria back to Vanderbijlpark today I took some photographs of this bank of smog - visible air pollution hanging over the Vaal Triangle.

"The Vaal Triangle and surrounding areas has been declared a national air pollution hotspot (or priority area) in terms of Section 18 (1) of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 2004 (Act No. 39 of 2004) (AQA). This area is known as the “Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area”"

- www.environment.gov.za/vaal/about.html

...and on a lighter note - this is one of those happy photographic mistakes - This bit of a blurry shot from the car was perfect for a bit of minor post-ed additions (darker edges, added grain and round corners) to produce a retro landscape image of a piece of veld close to Meyerton.

Two different perspectives

With a view over mountains and sea
One day with peace and tranquility
The next day with storm and wind

Near the foot of Africa
And part of the Sun Path of our ancestors
With age-old rocks around the sands of time

Here we find peace and truth
Here we can find ourselves.

Kalk Bay, 2011



Leaves on a table within my studio. Hidden underneath a roof. Captured within 4 walls. Contained within the control of my hands, my will, my ego. Control. Fear. Anger. Despair. We all long to feel connected again. Leaves plucked from a tree - death, decay and renewal.

Towards the South

Latest Nuances addition, entitled "Southbound":



This print will be available for sale on State of the Art soon.
Limited edition of only 5 prints, printed on Somerset Velvet paper.

You can also see other works from the Nuances series in the gallery on my website.

Dreams inspire and guide

The above two small watercolour sketches are already a bit old, but it's always good to look back at what you've been doing a few months ago, as it gives you perception into where you're going and how far you might have come already.

Thanks to the Concept Development workshop by Kai Lossgott at VANSA earlier this month I have started to develop good, sustainable and easy-to-follow methods and habits that's already proving to work. I'm creating and producing new works, and also working on some projects that are more focused around action rather than merely creating an artwork. New artworks will be exhibited in May in Vanderbijlpark, after which I will add them onto my website. I'm also still expanding the Nuances series, which are becoming quite popular at the moment, I am happy to say!

As 'n klein voorsmakie vir Meimaand se uitstalling: die werke - gemengde media werke, drukke, tekeninge, skilderwerke asook 'n uitvoerstuk en installasiewerk - vorm deel van die Scapes projek, wat fokus op die landskap en menslike interaksie daarmee. Vir Scapes & Scrapes, wat in Bodutu Gallery by die Vaal Universiteit van Tegnologie uitgestal word, word teenstellings getref tussen ongeskende landskappe en natuurlewe teenoor areas waar besoedeling en omgewingsbeskadiging plaasvind. In laasgenoemde is die fokus op die manier wat die landskap geskend word en die gesondheid van minderbevoorregte gemeenskappe benadeel word vir die finasiële baat van 'n selektiewe groepie oor-bevoorregte mense.

This really caught my attention in my reading list on Blogger this morning. Read more about a story that will unfurl about this bird's journey or travels on the Resurrection Fern's blog.

More watercolour and ink scapes

Playing around digitally

I've got a whole table full of paints, paintbrushes, paper and canvas that I packed out and started to work on this morning. Then after an entire afternoon spent on car stuff, I end up behind the computer and while looking for good landscape photographs, came accross some old misty photos taken on Signal Hill and started playing with them. The result can be seen above.

And below is progress on the landscape that I showed a week or two ago.

A view of the woud

You might recognize this scene. This watercolour painting (which is still a work in progress) is done from the same photograph that inspired my oil painting "Wandel" last year. The watercolour gives a very different atmosphere than the oil paint did, and I feel that this painting will be closer to what I want to achieve. Watch this space for progress!

Rethinking and Reviving

For a little while I thought that I need to create art that people want to see, admire and buy. That I need to try and follow a trend, choose my subject matter more wisely or even change the way that I create my artworks.

Change of direction and perception

I have since, however, revived and remembered that I need to stay authentic and true to myself, and follow my heart and passion. The rest will follow. I just need to stay on my own path that makes the most sense to me. Everything is relative in this complex and beautiful world of ours. There will always be people with criticism and cynicism to make you rethink your perception about life. And there will also always be people who you can count on to be encouraging, supportive, wise and loving. To all those who love, support and encourage me - especially those who give constructive criticism and motherly preaches - you know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.



Landscape in progress

So now onto the juicier bits - I am working on new landscape works, found object sculptures and collages, and also veering more into botanical art. I'm continuing my explorations with watercolour and will have more to show soon!

Looking around again

Debut run with my new Holga! Using Portra Natural Colour 160 Iso film, I had a go with my new Lomography camera, which I bought about two weeks ago at Exposure Gallery at the Old Biscuit Mill - thanks Fernando! A LOT of blurry images - motion blur, not the characteristic Lomo-blur (I got confused with the N (normal) and B (bulb) setting, resulting in toooo long exposures and too much movement on my already double-, triple- and quadruple exposures) - but these six shots are quite satisfactory - especially the bottom 3...


As usual, of course, taking photographs with film made me more aware again about what's around me and how a lot of the very 'ordinary' objects, scenes and landscapes around us could make the perfect, most interesting subjects for artworks...

Rocks and Trees

I am starting to play and explore more and more with watercolour and of course combining it with my drawing materials. These are some smallish sketches (smaller than A4 size) I did last week in preparation for some bigger works.