Emerging

Emerging 800x800mm oil on canvas

Reflecting recent weather conditions

Port Elizabeth has had the second wettest winter in recorded history this year, in addition to unusually cold weather, 3 floods in the last few weeks, and days without water due to 2 broken major supply pipelines. I breezed into my studio with the intention of doing a few abstract canvases with very little content, but hopefully lots of atmosphere. I guess it should come as no surprise, since I have often found my abstact paintings to be surprisingly revealing of things I am feeling, even though I was not particularly conscious of it at the time, that they should reflect the current wet wintry mood.

Rainy Day 900x1100mm (SOLD)

Passing View 900x1100mm.
This painting must come from the feeling I seem to have more and more frequently that I would love to just climb in the car and hit the road, enjoying the changing views flashing past the driver's window! Again, in this case, a wintry wet view.

new works in various media....

Hi, I have been so loving having more time to be in the studio lately, and while there are still many interruptions, I am getting a lot done whenever I am able to spend a while there.

I have been enjoying using different techniques to express the mood in each picture, so they are an ecclectic mix of faily standard oil painting, some mixtures of paint and charcoal drawing on canvas, and some very transparent layers of glaze coats and wet into wet on smooth boards, which gives a deliciously seductive result. And the the small charcoal drawings are ongoing too.

One thing I have not featured on this blog yet is my photography, but it is another medium I am busy with, and I am delighted with some large prints I have had done this week, ranging from A4 to a gi-normous A0. I'll show some of those pics in another post, but seeing them small on the computer screen really does not do them justice, they have such a presence in the big prints.

testing the waters 100x800mm oil on canvas (SOLD)

This is the daughter of a friend of mine... and I found their holiday photo of her dipping her toe tentatively into the water very touching, so I asked permission to paint it. It seems to me to be about so much more than a physical testing of temperature... it recalls all the insecurities of adolescence, being on the brink of the adult world, with all its possibilities and attractions, but also dangers and fears. Wanting to jump in, but being so very unsure of what one will find, or how one will be received.

New Mosque Istanbul 250x250 oil on board

Istanbul, it features in my thoughts, longings, reading and painting.... what a magical, mystical, contradictory and altogether enchanting place!

strolling in the rain, 250x250mm oil on board

Galata tower, Istanbul 250x250 oil on board (SOLD)

Rainy night in Istanbul 250x250mm oil on board

Rainy night in Istanbul 2 250x250mm oil on board

Be my Shelter 1000x800mm charcoal and oil on canvas

lifeblood charcoal on Fabriano 230x240mm

rainy night in Istanbul  230x240mm charcoal on Fabriano

3 New works

Wetlands 1200x700mm oil on canvas

Solitude 600x500mm oil on canvas

shoreline 750x600mm mixed media (oil, stitching and photographs on canvas)
SOLD

two small works in very different styles

Tree of Life: oil, conte and collage on canvas 250x300mm

The obsession with baobab trees and lost children continues :)

Rainy Day - Galata Bridge: oil on board 250x250mm

I am having a love affair ... don't worry my husband knows about it... I am crazy about the City of Istanbul!

I am reading everything I can find to feed the passion (look for Orhan Pamuk if you want to read some great Turkish literature that truly captures the essence of the place) and have been going through my photos converting some into moody black and white shots. These will be the basis for a new series of small works. This one was done with thin glazes on board as the technique allows for a monochrome look but with a buildup of subtle colours.

ooops, nearly forgot these little guys

These two small canvases were done for the recent Same Size Same Price No Signature held at artEC Gallery, both sold on the opening night.

Lost generation 5 300x300 oil on canvas

Lost generation 6 300x300 oil on canvas

"Finding my way"

I painted this towards the end of last year, at a time when my best friend was going through a very bad time after the loss of her husband. It is hard to say if the emotions around her situation influenced the mood of this painting, certainly not on a conscious level but I am often surprised at how much of what is going on in my life and the lives of those close to me is able to filter through subconsciously into my work. In any case, the minute she saw it she related to the lost and lonely figure battling against the storm, and bought it!

Finding my Way oil on canvas 600x800mm (SOLD)

The first week of the rest of my life....

Over the last few years my once regular blogging has diminished to a trickle, for a number of reasons which have basically been discussed in previous posts. However, my knee replacement has been a huge success and as of this week, I have finished my 3 year term as Chairperson at the artEC/Epsac Community Art Centre (check out the website or facebook page to see what the gallery and art centre are all about.) This means the biggest stumbling blocks to my regular art production are out of the way, and the studio is beckoning.
The other stumbling block is probably still there, and that is the relative slowness of loading pics on blogger rather than facebook, although it seems to have improved a lot since my last attempt.) I have decided I must just grit my teeth and put up with this, as facebook is usually limited to one's friends, whereas blogger is more of a public forum. And it has formed a useful journal and catalogue of my work and arty musings in the years since I started it, so it is worth continuing, if only as a record for posterity.

A backlog is always a pain to catch up, so please bear with me, and I'll slowly trawl through my pictures from the past year or so and fill in the gaps.

For today, I want to share a few of the recent works produced since the last post, and also a piece of good news. Well actually, great news I think, I recently sold a painting to the World Bank, along with the publishing rights, to be used on the cover of their next financial report. So 5000 copies of the painting will be circulated around the world soon, sheesh you can't BUY publicity like that, never mind being paid for it!  The sale was through SouthAfricanArtists.com who sell my work online, and are a delight to deal with. If only all art agents and galleries were as ethical, efficient and pleasant to deal with! (my page there is here.)

It was this one called Conflict Resolution. It is an expression of the idea that we might be opposites, one flamboyant and unpredictable, the other controlled and thinking "in straight lines" but we always have a little of each other in us, and if we make the effort to reach across the things that seem to divide us, we will find we have more in common that we realise, and actually enhance each other.

Conflict Resolution, oil on canvas, 900x1100mm

(World Bank is the copyright holder of this Work)

Ok and some recent ones in no particular order:

children of the shadows, oil and metallic foil on canvas 1000x1000 mm

.....And then, thanks to the Greg Kerr workshop I attended last year, a new departure for me. I have always skirted the issue of drawing, and jumped straight into the whole delectable world of paint and colour. But Greg revealed the subtle delights of charcoal drawing and since then, I have been enjoying the occasional foray into charcoal on paper. In fact I like it so much, it is now finding its way onto my recent canvases, and I am loving explorations of paint and charcoal drawing together...  but that is a story for another day :)

 

the many faces of Basil.

This portrait reminds me of some of the fascinating books and movies dealing with multiple personality that I have seen over the years! A flick of colour here, a highlight or shadow there, and he undergoes a complete character change....

(To see the background, see the post before last....)

It still looks more like a long lost relative than Basil himself, but as a general painting of a guy relaxing it seems to work!

Meanwhile, whilst having all these facelifts on canvas, the real Basil is having a fab holiday in Thailand... hope you are enjoying it!

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.