The Art of It

On Thursday evening, 27 September, I went to the opening of an art exhibition at Maureen Shields’ Vanilla Canvas Gallery in Diep River, Cape Town. Amazing! Moving! This was an experience that will leave its mark on my soul forever! The exhibition runs until 11th of October. Every cent of the money raised will be donated to the Child ren’s Hospital. Anyone able to do so should make the effort to see it. Unless you have a heart of stone it will inspire you. An Introduction to the Exhibition As an introduction to the exhibition I can do no better than quote Gallery Owner, Maureen Shields, who has so generously given of her time and made her gallery available for this wonderful cause. She introduced the exhibition as follows. “At the beginning of this year I was given a tour of the RED CROSS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL. To tell you how incredibly moved I was would be an understatement to say the least. The doctors, medical staff, teachers and administrative staff really do

We have just returned from a very hectic (by Cape Town standards) weekend of wedding activities in Johannesburg. It started with the bachelor and bachelorette parties on Friday evening, just an hour or two after our arrival in Johannesburg. To our surprise Bryan and I had been invited to participate in these functions and had a great deal of fun at our respective parties. On Saturday the bride and groom treated the mothers, sisters and bridal party to breakfast and a massage at a local Spa. It was wonderful. Thank you guys! This was followed by a visit to my sister and her family in Pretoria for a few precious hours with my Mum, brother and their family up from Durban for the wedding. Then it was back to Johannesburg to shower and change and head out to a local restaurant for a delightful dinner hosted by the bride and groom for the wedding party and their partners. Another very enjoyable event and another big thank you guys! Sunday. What a wedding! My new da

This was painted from a photo Bryan took on a walk we did along a beautiful path that wound its way towards Sandbaai.

The widespread adoption of digital cameras and photo-editing software provides the opportunity to correct colour casts and exposure problems as well as make image enhancements. It also allows the photographer to radically alter images. The end product may bear little resemblance to the original image and may even become completely abstract. Colours can be dramatically changed and images distorted in a multitude of ways. Is it art? I believe it very definitely is. It is conceptually little different from the manipulation of traditional photographs in the darkroom during processing and printing. The photographer must still decide on the changes he will make, select an image to work with and accept or reject the result. The final image is very much an expression of his artistic talent.

This article was originally posted on 12 August 2007. We picked up a typo and corrected it but Blogger refuses to allow the time and date of posting to be reset to the original so here it is again. Thursday’s public holiday, National Woman’s Day, provided the perfect excuse for a trip to Delheim , one of the oldest wine estates in Cape Town, for lunch. A traditional South African babotie (curried mince with a custard like topping) complimented by their excellent Gewürztraminer hit the right spot and put us in the mood to try to capture the winelands in a winter mood. And just for fun, something a little abstract.

Something bright and different. Once again we really battled to get the colours accurate in the photograph.

This is my first painting on block-mounted canvas and is the largest I have painted so far. I had the desire to produce something really bold and modern. I hope that this tightly cropped portrait of a striking young woman achieves that. I am contemplating adding earrings.

Namibia is a land of amazing contrasts, from the arid Namib Desert to the raging seas of the Skeleton Coast, from the great escarpment separating the coastal region from the central plateau to the bushveld in the north. It provides endle ss material for photographers and artists. Take a look at this site to get some idea of the scenic diversity of this remarkable country.

Once again we really battled to photograph this painting. The slight bloom is a reflection caused by the camera's flash and is not present on the original painting. I am posting it anyway and will take another photograph using natural light when the weather gets better.

People talk about artists having a particular style and some artists have a knack for painting saleable pictures. I have been experimenting with various mediums and styles, from photorealistic to more abstract work. I am realising that I have distinct preferences and my personal favourite works tend towards the more photorealistic style. I also prefer those pictures where colour is used sparingly or the picture is almost monochromatic. Now I ask myself, what do my readers and those people out there who might be potential customers want? Is it necessary to produce work that follows trends and fashions i n order for it to sell or should artists follow their own instincts? It is rewarding to produce paintings, which I personally like but even more exciting to find that there are others who derive pleasure from my work and may even wish to buy one or two pieces. My personal favourites are not always the pictures that appeal most to others who see my work. Their comments

While trying to sort piles of paintings I found this one that I never posted! I am definitely in my blue phase!