On the 20th February, we were surprised to find a pair of Buffalo wandering through our veld ! They had escaped from a neighbouring Game Farm. So we followed them while they were in the road, and I managed to get some marvellous photographs. Naturally I was immediately inspired; one seldom has such a perfect pair of models to paint ! So over the past month I have done three studies in three different ways :Watercolour, Oil, and Pen & Wash.
Getting back to painting at last ! Here is my first for 2017. A little karoo farm scene with an old gate.
We were fortunate to have a beautiful new gallery space open up in 2016, in the Burgersdorp main street, as part of the new Kingsman Boutique Hotel. It was named the House of Art, and is run by the Burgersdorp Artists. I was lucky to be allocated the whole month of October for an Exhibition of my own. You may recall the advertisement of the painting of the Van Wyksvlei Donkey Cart, that I posted recently. We took many photos so I made 3 Composites of them for my Journal, to give you an idea of the display. Being a small town, we only sold a few paintings, but it certainly was a good show with a lot of interest. Also, being October, the month of Roses, I was able to have a big vase of roses to decorate the window display, and to give away to friends !
During our July 2015 Trans-Karoo trip we were constantly enjoying the surprise of coming over the rise to discover new country we’d never seen, and the pleasure and delight of that experience was portrayed in my first painting,entitled : “The Road Ahead”
But soon after it went into the website Gallery, my brother bought it. I was sad to see it go, as it signified the enjoyment of that journey that we loved so much. So it wasn’t long before I dug out another photo, a similar scene further along on that same trip : ” The Road Ahead 2 ”
Fortunately I still have this one and it is framed & has pride of place in my lounge where I can see it every day, as a regular reminder of that memorable trip.
During our Trans Karoo trip in July 2015, we visited Van Wyk’s Vlei in the central karoo. This little scene with the donkey cart, salt bush and sleeping dog, just needed to be painted ! I decided to paint it for an upcoming exhibition in Burgersdorp in October. So I am using it as the advertisement for the exhibition, on Facebook and elsewhere. Here it is as the Poster. The text has been added digitally, and does not actually appear on the painting, that will be on display at the October Show. Please come and visit if you are in the neighbourhood, in October.
In 2015 I took up the “Everyday in May” challenge, and when May 2016 rolled around, I was keen to give it another try. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, and hope you will too; while scrolling through these 31 sketches.
This was my first order for 2016, a scene on the road from Knapdaar to our farm Silvermere. A view of the valley looking north over the game farm, Grootevallei. The painting was to be a gift for the regular hunter from Sweden, Carl Piper. 
This painting was inspired by the wonderful sea of red, of aloes flowering in July on our quick trip to PE. It sold on the day it was posted on Facebook: Facebook.- Africanpainting.com
It is about eight years since our last trip through our beloved karoo. So we took a short two day trip from, Colesburg to Hopetown, Prieska, Vanwyk’s Vlei, Canarvon and Loxton, where we spent the night. The next day we meandered home via Three Sisters, Murraysburg, Richmond, Middleburg and Steynsburg. The main purpose of the trip, was to find painting inspiration & to take a new batch of photos. It was a lovely trip, and these few are the first batch of paintings. More will follow in due course.
With our sadly oppressive drought, it is soothing to contemplate a peaceful seascape. This was from a beautiful photograph taken by my friend, Riana, who lives on this beautiful coast near Mossel Bay. It inspired me to paint this sea scene in oils.
When windmills propel gently through the breezes in lazy rotations, or spin frenetically facing into the strong winds that sweep across the karoo plains, I am often mesmerized by them. They knit together the vast expanses of earth and sky, in perfect stately harmony. Like elegant sentinels, windmills tower over the vast expanses of veld that surround them. They have held a deep fascination for me ever since I first settled here many years ago, and have featured quite prominently in most of the karoo landscape paintings I’ve done over the years. Here are 3 small veld scenes and one rough sketch, to add to the catalogue of windmill studies done time and again.
The Every-Day-in-May Challenge seems to be quite popular with many artists, but I only discovered the trend this year. I decided to give it a go, but chose not to use the popular subject prompts. I did a picture every day in May inspired by the day’s events or particular beauty found on that day. So, here are the daily sketches in order from 1 to 31 for the number of days in May. Please note that they are all a uniform size, ( 7.50 x 5.75 inches, or 190 x 145 mm ) They are in a small sketch book that has only 30 pages. The 31st May sketch is on a separate piece of paper measuring , 9.50 x 6.30 inches or 240 x 160 mm. None of these sketches appear in the galleries on the right, so email me if you are keen on purchasing any of them, and quote me the day and number of the drawing.
