The year 2015 has begun with a wild flush of colour; new ideas, new artworks to create and new people, including little people who want to begin learning something NEW in their lives – ART. All very exciting!
This month’s artist, is one I have admired for many years. I wandered through her home, Stonehouse, on a farm not too far from Benoni, and stood for many a minute looking at her paintings.
She has the gift or knack of finding colours in a mundane, dried up branch of a tree in the Karoo.
A white gnarled, dried out branch was her choice of subject matter for an exquisite large painting that holds my attention each time I have the pleasure of visiting her.
I look carefully and find pale French ultramarine blues, light colour mixtures giving forth exquisite sea greens, burnt Sienna, Paynes grey, indigo and other combinations of “yummy” colours, brought into the shadows of otherwise, plain white branches.
She also delves into those tiny fissures that insects make and it is as if she is making little homes for the insects by creating tiny entrances burrowed into the wood, and pathways through the scraps of bark which have not yet fallen off the branches.
I have watched her at work; the concentration is phenomenal; she becomes totally engrossed and lost in a wonderland of colour and technique.
This lovely artist always finds much beauty in decay, perhaps a decaying leaf lying in freshly fallen rain, for example.
She will photograph it and find colours like crimson, turquoise, indigo, Prussian blues and Paynes greys, with hints of white, or pale yellow highlighting little, important areas.
She creates beauty from objects one would step on and not give another thought to.
About her painting: this is her comment on “Trekker Groot”.
“This red tractor stands in front of the Blou Donkie Gallery in Clarence.
“The colour of the tractor grabbed me that morning. I always find there is, in fact, so much beauty in decay.
“I love history and farm life, so to put oil on canvas for this one was just such a pleasure.
“The lighter areas highlight the fact that the engine will never run again, the tyres will never roll across any field again and, behind the steering wheel, there is the opulent absence of a person, a farmer.”
No matter how many lessons one has had, or certificates, diplomas, degrees and the like, there is always someone, like this particular artist, who has so much insight into nature’s path, that she is able to give much more to us, and to teach us something new with every painting she creates.
To everyone, I wish you a colourful and fruitful creative year.
