There was a time......

.............When I would upload several picures each month. Now i look appalled and see that i last added anything in March. Today is the first of June and i have only 6 new paintings to add. This will change... but not just yet!

I allowed myself to get all wrapped up in various quixotic causes, such as our general election, our neighbourhood crime watch, and our local community art gallery. Slowly I am extricating myself from some, wrapping up others, and setting boundaries for those that remain!

In the midst of this, my dad died last month, and we are off to Turkey and Bulgaria in the middle of this month. So the hiatus will continue for another 6 weeks or so, but i hope to return brimming with inspiration and energy, please be patient!

The new batch all has one thing in common... a pre-occupation with the need to help guide the next generation of children as they navigate through life, a life that seems to become increasingly uncertain for many in Africa.

Its a big world to navigate through

800 x 1000 mm

oil on canvas

Navigating through lifes maze

1000 x 1000 mm

acrylic/mixed media on canvas

the lost generation 1

250x250mm

acrylic/mixed media on canvas

the lost generation 2
250x250mm
acrylic/mixed media on canvas

the lost generation 3

250x250mm
acrylic/mixed media on canvas

the lost generation 4

250x250mm
acrylic/mixed media on canvas

Marching along

March already??? I swear, we are going to blink and it will be next Christmas!

As far as community involvement goes, with the Crime Forum, Community Art gallery and COPE (the new political party making waves and offering hope in South Africa) I seem to have bitten off rather more than I am able to chew or swallow recently, but I have managed to slink off into the studio every now and then, usually at very anti-social hours, and these are the latest results.

Where have all the icebergs gone?
1200x1000mm

A quiet protest about allowing global warming to continue unchecked. As always the poppies signify lives lost, in this case not in man at war with man, but rather man at war with his environment.

to the woods

600x900mm

A friend once pointed out how many of my landscapes contain roads leading off into the distance, and as i look back, he is quite right, it must be a subconscious expression of the growing need i am feeling to travel! Much as i adore my part of the world, and enjoy travelling vicariously on the internet, I am longing to hit the road and soak up some places that are less familiar... Capetown next week, after that ??????????

Simonstown

900x800

Iam kicking myself that I didn't take a decent pic of this when it was finished. In this form, it wasn't working for me, so I pallette knifed over the background buildings, and made it more abstract. l lightened the sea in the foreground, and added a yacht in the closest bay.

I smile whenever I see this view of Simonstown, with its Naval Base from the mountain behind it, on the road that leads across to Scarborough and Cape Point. In the repressive Apartheid years, there was a stern sign at this lookout point, warning that it was a military installation below, and photography was prohibited. Naturally this brought out the rebel in me, and i photographed the sign, the fact that the harbour was in the background was pure coincidence... or that's how I planned to explain it if any officious person challenged me!

Africa's Children, the lost generation 2

400x400mm

Africa's Children, the lost generation 3
400x400mm

The Africa's children series just keeps going, I just can't seem to get it out of my system! I look at some of the little waifs around me, whose parents are dying of aids, or have no hope of finding jobs, and they break my heart as I wonder what the future holds for them. Can we make enough of a difference in this country that we can turn things around for these kids? I hope the election next month will put an end to the government corruption which is robbing these kids of their future.... which is why I am currently throwing my energy into COPE.

facing my future

600x900

Adrift 600x600mm

the comments above apply here too.

The food aid arrives 6 and 7

400x400mm

Despite the fact that these kids face the uncertainty of having to wait till their next meal drops out of the sky, they exude the joyful playfulness of children all over the world.

Farewell Homeland 2

1200x1000mm

A Sudanese mother and her children look back on the remains of the only home they have ever known, before fleeing to who knows what future. Every now and then I do a painting that really talks to me in a special way. This is one of them. I hope it doesn't sell too soon, I want to live with it for a while!

People of the shadows

600x600

As many countries continue to be in meltdown, their citizens are forced to flee through the shadows to escape. The refugees of Africa continually amaze me with their resilliant spirits against all the odds. I know it is fashionable to mock people like Bob Geldorf and Bono who are trying to make a difference, but I salute them! They could so easily be squandering their wealth and fame on self indulgence, as the majority of high profile people seem to do, but instead they are willing to care and do something about the plight of these people.

Conflict is so pointless.....

More in the series examining the effects of conflict and war..... It is a juggling act to produce paintings that have something to say about difficult and painful social issues, but are still atractive enough to live with! Whilst really in your face, angst filled art is powerful and good, it is sometimes so disturbing that most people would not want to live with it, and this makes it inaccessable, thus diluting the effect. I choose to dilute the impact of the picture itself, make the art more accessible, and thus make it more likely to find its way into a home and continue to send its message. Time will tell if this is a wise choice, but it is a conscious one that seems to be working for me now.

Afghanistan Weeps

1000 x 1000 mm

oil/mixed media on canvas

I chose Ultramarine speckled with metallic colours to represent lapis lazuli, the rare semi precious mineral synonymous with Afghanistan. The flowers are a version of the poppy, which I often use to represent the fallen in war. The desert landscape weeps for the women and children of that repressive country.... what does the future hold for them?

Can we meet somewhere in the middle?

1200 x 1000 mm

Mixed media on canvas

Another one, partner to the one in the previous post, about healing divisions... and a need to look for common ground in order to seek a resolution to conflict......

Every story has 2 sides

Every story has 2 sides

1100 x 900 mm

I tend to enjoy working in series, and often have several different threads running simultaneously. Thus, if you go into my studio at any time, it is quite possible to see 5 or 6 works in various stages of completion, and so different you wonder if the studio is inhabited by a group of artists! Large colourful abstracts vie for space with small city-scapes and historic buildings, landscapes are peacful and serene, or populated with desperate people, trees spring up all over the place and every now and then a quirky one appears that has no category at all, like the pink pig I did recently, called "did you say Bacon?"

One series I am very into now is the one that started out as "Africa weeps for her children." It has grown to examine issues relating to the plight of women and children in so many parts of africa, the so called "lost generation", the spectre of joblessness, and the big divide between 1st world/3rd worldrich/poor in the continent. A recurring theme is the plight of refugees, and those whose next meal depends on someone dropping it out of the sky.

Running parallel with this, and about to overlap, (ideas are running in my mind) is the anti war theme. It all started a couple of years back when I did a black and white painting, with one red poppy, called "lest we forget." It evolved with variations of the theme, until a series with block patterns emerged, symbolising both chess (a war game) and the checkered flag, symbolising winner takes all. Obviously the poppies were a reminder of the cost in human life.

The latest variant to emerge from this is a softer one, perhaps not so much war per se, but any conflict or dispute, and it reminds us that there is never only one side to any story, it may look cut and dried as the parties square off across a boundary, but there is seldom one side that is all totally good, and the other all totally bad.

3 new works

I started the year with a commissioned painting... which is good and bad. The good is obviously having a definite sale to start the year with. The negative is that, until that was complete, it kind of blocked any other work. I was feeling inspired to do more of my series examining the plight of many women and children in Africa, and the great 1st world/3rd world divide, but had to first stay in "historic building" mode for a while.

corner Buckingham and Way 900x600

Anyway the building is now signed, sealed delivered, and I am free to run along the Africa path again for a while. Two have emerged so far.........

Window of Opportunity... OK I studied, now what?

1200x1000mm

I saw this young man at a huge political rally I went to. One of the big themes of the day was job creation, honest and transparent leadership, jobs going to those who are qualified rather that cronies of other leaders etc. And my heart went out to him, because there are SOOO many youngsters who have studied hard, often under really trying conditions, and achieved results, but now they sit in desperation looking for jobs. And the sad reality is, with unemployment soaring, the chances are, it is not going to happen. What does he do? How does he live? How does he even BEGIN to plan a future?

Emerging from the shadows

900x600mm

A more hopeful painting, the rainbow nation emerges from the shadows, there is a way to go, but the spirit of the country is changing, we are proud, more and more united, and the future looks bright.

New Year, new work, new possibilities

This year is beginning on an exciting note for me. A very prestigious gallery in Plettenberg Bay has agreed to be my agent. The response to the work has been very positive, and there is now the possibility of a solo or joint exhibition there in a few months time, and better still, perhaps being part of a group to exhibit in America too. Nothing cast in concrete yet, but just the possibility is exciting. Here are some of the works I did at the end of last year, which are now in Plett.

Flattening the forests 2

900x900 mm

mixed media on canvas

Flattening the forests
900x900 mm
mixed media on canvas

These two started out as protest paintings depicting the treasure of the trees on the one hand, and the money to be made from flattening them on the other. But My husband pointed out that they look much too cheerful to be protest art, and look like a celebration of trees instead!

In war, only the arms dealers win 2

1000x1000 mm

mixed media on canvas

A return to another favourite theme!

Africa's children: living in the shadows

600x800 mm

mixed media on canvas

Africa's children: living in the shadows
600x800 mm
mixed media on canvas

The ladder of success: where do they begin?

800x900 mm

mixed media on canvas

Final exhibition for this year:

You might remember that in June I was privileged to take part in an exhibition at a beautiful private home. Well to my delight, the owner enjoyed it all so much that she has arranged another, which opens on Friday. I will be exhibiting with a group of artists whose work I really admire, so it will be wonderful to be part of it. As a result, I have been hard at work preparing some new works for it. I was so pressed for time that I posted some of them on the previous post, without elaborating, and here are some more. I delivered them this morning, and now it is up to Hannalize to work her magic.... she has an uncanny skill for hanging the right picture in the right place, and grouping works that really make music together!

For those of you who are in Port Elizabeth this weekend, it would be wonderful to see you there, so here's an invitation....

Art Exhibition

5-6 December 2008
09h00-17h00

15 Providence Place
Old Seaview Road
Enquiries: Hannalize
0823736510

Tea Garden

SUE HOPPE Ÿ DUNCAN STEWART Ÿ DAVID MOSS ŸBEV BRETTENNY

YVETTE MEY ŸKAREN MARAIS ŸELSABE RETIEF Ÿ ALIDA STEWART

TESS LOVEMORE ŸHANNALIZE SCHULTZ Ÿ SONIA STRUMPFER

looking down parliament street

750x950

the harbour from fort frederick
750x950

donkin terrace
1800x500