White is out

Did you know that the paints that artists use have fashions? Certain colors are “hot” others not. At the moment it seems that white is definitely not fashionable. At a recent portrait
workshop I was advised by the teacher in charge that it was not a good idea to use too much white in a painting as it “muddies” the colors. This particular teacher would not even put the whites in her subject’s eyes, using instead a dab of Naples Yellow instead. Another criticism of white is that is makes the colors look too “chalky”.
Limited palettes have always been a problem for me. I like to avail myself of the whole spectrum of colors and I am like a bee in a lavender patch when I discover that there is a new color on the market!
My first Art teacher did not allow us to use pure black in our palette either. We had to use a mix of Prussian Blue and Alizarin crimson. When mixed in equal quantities a deep cold black is formed. However there are times when I have used a dab of Lamp Black in my paintings. On these occasions I have heard my teacher’s voice in my ear saying, “don’t do that” – and I feel a bit guilty but do it anyway!
As a white person in South Africa today, I am certainly not fashionable. Rather like in the 60’s and 70’s, certain colors of skin were not fashionable in my country.It was certainly not cool to be a black person. Now the boot is firmly on the other foot!
Racism seems to be alive and well and flourishing right now. never before has the color of a person’s skin been so topical. As a child I was taught not to see people in terms of their skin color and we regarded everyone as equal beneath the law. However the laws of our country at that time did not support that particular view, and some were regarded as “more equal than others”. Now we have things like BEE -Black Economic Empowerment which to me sounds like the reverse of the WEE of the old days . What a world!
That said, in my view, it is unfortunate that colors have “fashions.” To me, as an artist, there is place for every color in the spectrum, each equally important, each serving a particular function, whether as a highlight or a contrast color. I think white should be used when painting peoples’ eyes – it gives them a light- it makes them look more alive. I think black should be allowed – it gives the shadows warmth and depth. And of course, the mix produced by those two colors – a delicious grey, both cool and warm, to spice up the dark areas and tone down the light. What more could you want. A true rainbow nation of paints to reflect a true rainbow nation of people.

Mika: Grace Kelly

Painting Fields of Gold

I knew I wanted to be an artist when my parents took me on a car journey through the Overberg. The Overberg is a magnificent open stretch of South Africa about 2 hours to the east of Cape Town. I was a small, somewhat timid and quiet 11 year old from a small town a long way from Cape Town. But what I saw through the car window on that long day’s drive made my soul soar like a great eagle and a sense of awe and grandness settle somewhere behind my eyes.
That is the effect that the wheatfields of Caledon had on me.
Looking out of the car window onto endless golden blankets wrapped snuggly round gentle rolling hills and stretching in all directions has a soothing, hypnotic effect. Framing the yellow canvas is the misty blue, jagged ribbon of the Swartberg range, majestic even though I saw them for the first time through the dusty windows of our old Peugeot 404.
Since then I have had many occasions to marvel at this vista and have seen it changing hues with each season. All through these times it has never ceased to inspire and amaze. Yet, it is in Summer when the Overberg sings true- a deep, smoky smouldering sultry jazz. You wonder how you ever drove without airconditioning, yet the child within you aches for that time long ago when you had no defense against the power of that heat!

Many painters have tried, with varying degrees of success. I think it is Van Gogh’s painting, “Wheatfields under threatening skies” that for me captures the energy and rapture of that subject best. It is a magnificent work – the circling black crows providing a sinister contrast to the rich abundant texture of the wheat. For me the message is clear – though there is abundance, there is also ravage. Ignore one of these maxims at your peril. The positive is made more meaningful by the negative.
Accepting the wholeness of things puts everything into perspective. Nothing is perfect in and of itself and nature will always strive for harmony amongst its disparate elements – fire and ice, dark and light. This message is never more beautifully and strongly expressed than in van Gogh’s work.
I came across this little painting by Manuela Valenti when I did a google search for Wheatfields.
When I begin eventually, I know my palette will be hot – I even invented a new colour when I went to Napier one year – a small village about an hour and a half from Cape Town. I called it Napier yellow – it is a specific colour you only see in the wheatfields of Napier – a kind of opaque, scorched yet pale shade somewhere between ochre and Naples yellow with just a dash of cadmium.
While I paint I will listen to my favourite song of all time, Sting’s – Fields of Gold and remember when I climbed the mountains of the Cedarberg and fell in love in a golden field on the top. Surely that will work to get the creative juices flowing..
This subject is certainly stimulating certain other juices.
I’m off to make myself a fat sandwich…….

Living an artist’s life in Cape Town

Cape Town is home to many fine artists. Original artists such as the “San” artists have of course left their incredible rock paintings around the Cape. They abound particularly in areas like the Cedarberg, which is within 3 hours drive of Cape Town, but this article will deal particularly with some of the main Galleries and Art Institutions in and around Cape Town and the work that is currently on show there.

No visitor to this fantastic city can go without visiting the Iziko National Gallery. At present there is a magnificent beadwork exhibition on featuring the wonderful work of beaders of South Africa.

At the Association for Visual Arts there are some amazing new sculptures and works by Jacques Dhont on view. (see pic)

The Sanlam Art Gallery probably has a fairly representative collection of the best of South African Artists spanning the last century to the present day.

the Everard Read Gallery has an exhibition of contemporary works by Nick Botting starting today – these are lovely seascapes of the Arniston beach.

The Irma Stern Museum in Rosebank is an essential stop on your tour – for a true taste of “Old Cape Town’s” colonial past this magnificent house, once home to one of Cape Town’s most celebrated and eccentric woman artists, Irma Stern is a must-see.
Presently on view is:The Secret Adventures of Lady Anne Barnard”by Carine Zaayman which is based on Lady Anne Barnard’s stay at the Cape of Good Hope as the wife of the first British colonial secretary, Andrew Barnard, from 1797 – 1802. The exhibition aims to illuminate a part of the history of Cape Town and its environment by tracing the ways in which history has shaped contemporary life .

On display will be a series of digital prints consisting of photographs, drawings and texts from Lady Anne’s journal and newly discovered letters. A video installation dealing with her ascent of Table Mountain will also be shown.

Painting after 40

How easy is it to start a painting career after 40?
For a start you are not at the cutting edge of the Young art world. You tend to be regarded, by virtue of your age alone, as “one of those Sunday painters” that exhibits on the side of the road or at Craft markets.

Teenagers beginning a career in fine art in that esteemed institution, Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town may laugh at the notion of spending a whole day painting a table of fruit or doing a “plein air” workshop in a vineyard – how boring!!! So much better to have kinky ideas – “cool conceptuals” – and then fool people into believing that they are truly original. Take for example the winner of last year’s Michaelis graduates who put up a room full of white canvases and called his exhibit, “Camouflage” – on closer inspection the canvases had been painted on before he had covered them with white paint. What conclusion can one draw from that – as a 40+ year old I rather think the paintings were so bad that he had to paint over them with white paint! Imagine if a 40year-old were to have an exhibition of white canvases….

So, why start a career at all after the age of 40? Especially in Art. If you are, like me, sensitive to the beauty of form in nature, and the amazing colours of the landscape in South Africa , its people and wildlife, and your whole life you have wished to express that in some way then you may well consider picking up a paint brush in your middle years after your children are safely in school and you have a morning to yourself.

That is what I did. What started out as a 3 -hour Tuesday morning art class with other mothers like myself, has over the years become an abiding passion and challenge. Every day I ask the same questions – why does the paint not behave the way it does in my head. Every day I battle with the same issues – perspective, composition, colour. Every painting seems like a new beginning and every day I realise how little I know and how much there is still to learn. I do not have the arrogance and energy of youth on my side, but I have gained patience which is perhaps in my favour as a new learner.

As a member of the South African Society of Artists I have to suffer the indignity of every year standing in a queue of 300 or so other hopeful “Sunday Painters” and hope that my 3 submissions will be accepted into their prestigious annual exhibition which takes place at Kirstenbosch Gardens in October. The quality of work at these events is generally of a very high standard, if somewhat “old-fashioned” in concept. Yes, it consists of Landscapes. Still life, Portrait and Life studies – all the old tried and tested formula. Very little abstract work is ever chosen by the panel of judges which are usually highly respected artists or lecturers in the Art field gathered from the various Art Institutions in the greater Cape Town Area.

Certainly no white canvases would ever be tolerated.

So again – where does that leave us as 40year-old beginners. We are not at the cutting edge, but we have a sense of worth, of natural beauty- we appreciate reality and what that means- we appreciate the value of the environment, we have a finer understanding of things due to experience. Perhaps we are not architects of cool ideas or what is “relevant” in today’s environment – our vision is perhaps tainted by reality or perhaps even sharpened by a pair of glasses – but that is a subject of another debate.

What matters is that we know the meaning of failure, but also the meaning of “pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again” – in short, we don’t give up easily, we tend not to care too much about what other people think or we say “to hell with it, I’ll do it anyway.” And we do it because, generally, we love it. And, unlike a 17 year-old, we have a deeper understanding of what that means.

Cape Landscape Photography

Dirt Road Running through a Landscape… Buy From Art.com

The Cedarberg and the Swaartland

Stumble it!

Oranges and books

A new Painting.
These oranges looked so big and juicy, I had to paint them. The painting went easily in the beginning – it took about an hour to get the basic shapes and colours blocked in. The whole painting took about 3 hours to complete – I am not sure if I could do anything to the drapery in the front – I changed my mind about 3 times while I was painting it – the colour changed from blue to white to a pale yellowish blue. I hope it is the right one!

I would welcome your comments!