as promised, some new work

I have been working on a very small scale recently, inspired by the upcoming 'Modern Miniatures' exhibition which is going to be at Art Gallery over the National Arts Festival. .... is started out with one or two, and enjoyed them so much that I have just carried on...

I still seem to be hung up on cows and thorns, and issues of the relative value of humans and possessions, so although the works are smaller, they follow on from my recent exhibition.

As promised, here in no particular order, are some pictures of the new work, which will be exhibited at the festival.

A PEARL BEYOND PRICE
450X450MM

A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
300X300

BITS OF AFRICA 1
100X100X40MM

DOTTY
150X150X40

HORNS AND THORNS 4A
100X100X40MM

HORNS AND THORNS 4B
100X100X40MM

IT'S ALL RELATIVE
100X150X40MM

LIFEBLOOD 20
300X300MM
PHOTO CREDIT: MIGNONNE VAN HEERDEN

MOOSAIC 1
150X150X40MM

MOOSAIC 2
150X150X40MM

MOOSAIC 3
150X150X40MM

MOOSAIC  4
150X150X40MM

PIECES OF AFRICA
100X100X100MM

PROTECT WHAT YOU VALUE 2
100X100X100MM

PROTECT WHAT YOU VALUE 2, OTHER SIDE

PROTECT WHAT YOU VALUE
100X100X100MM

SENDING A MESSAGE 1
100X100X40MM

SENDING A MESSAGE 2
100X100X40MM

SENDING A MESSAGE 3
100X100X40MM

SENDING A MESSAGE 4
100X100X40MM

SENDING A MESSAGE 5
100X150X40MM

THE HERD 2
100X100X40MM

THORN TREE 1
150X100X40MM

THORN TREE 2
150X100X40MM

THORNS
1500X100X40MM

THORNS 2
100X150X40MM

THORNS AND HORNS 4
600X750X44MM

WORTH HER WEIGHT IN GOLD
150X150X40MM

WORTH HER WEIGHT IN GOLD 2
150X150X40MM

WORTH HER WEIGHT IN GOLD
150X150X40MM

WORTH HER WEIGHT IN GOLD 4
150X150X40MM

WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD
150X150X40MM

Preview of forthcoming attractions

I am embarking on a new series of works. It began with the simple idea of combining horns and thorns, ie cattle with large horns and those wonderful large paired thorns you find on Acacia Karoo trees, which bear a striking resemblance to each other. It quickly morphed (as these things tend to do) into a series of ideas around the thought of protecting what one holds valuable, and the fact that those items are relative depending on who you are.

If you are a Dinka Tribesman, your cattle are literally your life, of the greatest possible value, and due to cattle fueds and raids, it is no longer enough to protect them in kraals of thorns. In Southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, cattle wars have led to the death of literally thousands, and herdsmen protect their cattle with AK 47s. By contrast, in 1st world countries, we see cattle as just another food commodity, and can take a more flippant approach to depicting them. Our valued possessions often revolve around our fixed property, and we protect it with razor wire and alarm systems.

In a society where respect for women and life is being constantly eroded, there is also a need to protect ourselves. So the range of images emerging is already quite wide, and I will be combining painting, drawing, photography, and ceramics. WATCH THIS SPACE! :)

cow in kraal, photography and charcoal drawing on canvas, 1600x1600mm

Generating Images

One of the great things about the Greg Kerr workshops I have been attending is the homework.... I know, homework is usually a drag, right? But he sets such great projects that it really is fun, at the same time as enlightening. I have already mentioned the little book of tiny charcoal drawings that featured in the previous "dark cloud" workshop. And I posted the two triptychs of large charcoal drawings. What I haven't done yet is tell you how the source material, on which the drawings were based, was arrived at.

We had to make a little theatre from a cardboard box and furnish it with some prescribed items and some flats made from photos. Then we had to play around with lighting the whole thing dramatically and take black and white photos of the result. This provided a bunch of suitable material to use as a basis for some drawings and paintings.
















It made for some great moody material to base the drawings on.

The latest workshop is called "the dinner party", and the whole program is based on the idea of hosting an imaginary dinner party at which there are 6 people (5 guests plus me as host). We began by researching  the guests and generating images that would express who they are (were if they are historic characters). My guests are Peter Clarke, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Kevin Carter, JWM Turner and Sam Nhlengethwa. I chose all because over the years I have admired their work, and it has been fab digging into their biographies and getting to know them better as people. In the case of Peter Clarke, I really did get to know him, as he very kindly invited me to tea the last time I was in Cape Town, and we spent a delightful afternoon together chatting like old friends, he is a really humble and inspiring man with a naughty twinkle in his eye and a great sense of humour.

Our first task was to make valentines cards for each guest and ourselves. Here they are:



Charles Rennie Mackintosh



JWM Turner



Kevin Carter



Sam Nhlengethwa



Sue Hoppe



Peter Clarke

From these we did a series of small paintings as tributes to each guest, which are not yet finished, as we'll be tackling them again later in the process, but this is how far they are for now:

Charles rennie mackintosh tribute

Kevin Carter tribute

Peter Clarke

Sam Nhlengethwa tribute

Sue Hoppe tribute

Turner tribute

Next we will do a large format painting of all the guests at the dinner table and as part of the process of generating images for the large painting, we again had some great homework. This time we have to make little clay figures and arrange them in different ways around a table, and again do a series of monochrome photos.

Here are some of the results:

Looks like we are in for a fun year!