I seem to have accidentally become the personal portrait painter to the world’s most gossipy herd of giraffes. My approach with this series was simple: slap on generous dollops of thick, messy paint, fling a few joyful splatters across the paper, and capture that exact split-second where a giraffe realizes you’re looking back at it….
Tag: impasto
Coral Coronation
Sitting here in ninety-nine percent Zululand humidity, watching my hair expand to the size of a king protea at the start of our rainy season, this painting is basically a postcard from sanity. Pure, unadulterated Cape fynbos on canvas, entirely unbothered by sub-tropical sweat. The impasto texture created with a palette knife and silicon blades…
Midnight Kaleidoscope
Some days in the studio, the palette knife just takes the wheel, and this piece was absolute, joyful chaos from the very first stroke! I started with that chunky, ornate blue-and-white urn—I love the grounding, classic feel of porcelain—but once the flowers started blooming, all the rules went straight out the window. I didn’t want…
Summer explosion
This is a large canvas – 110cm X 90 cm done in acrylic on canvas. I have used a number of tools to create various effects. The goblet is filled with Narcissus, yellow broom flowers and delphiniums The background was painted (or should I say applied) with a large palette knife. For the paint splatter…
A myriad of miniatures
I have a brother who lives in the United States of America (he married an American), but comes home to South Africa for visits regularly (sometimes as much as twice a year). The poor long suffering brother that he is always lugs a suitcase of treasures with him he has found for us, or treasures…
Limoncello
When I have an abundance of lemons I always make lemon meringue pie…. A family favourite! For those interested here is the recipe I always use. Easy Lemon Meringue Pie With a tennis biscuit crust (or a graham cracker crust outside of South Africa) and sweetened condensed milk filling, this lemon meringue pie is foolproof…
Izilwane
A new venture for myself and fellow artist Amanda Yearsley. The idea behind the Izilwane (which means animals in Zulu) cooperative is to provide affordable, easy to pack, lightweight original art, or limited edition prints that will take up no space in your suitcase and are pre-mounted and ready to frame. Artwork ranges from hand…
Aloes
Still one of my favourite things to paint… Getting started
Dear friends and weddings
The title says it all. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get to Granada for the wedding. I did, however, manage to paint their table centerpiece as a wedding gift by the time their 2nd anniversary had come around! Better late than never!
Fabulous flowers & a summer art exhibition
Preparing for an exhibition involves a huge amount of work and not something you can do the night before, so for the last 6 months I have slowly been building up artwork for the exhibition that will be taking place in the La Lucia mall in Durban from 24 November 2022 to 11 December 2022.
Upcycled treasures
Upcycling or creative reuse is one of my favourite pastimes especially when it comes to old frames that either have photographs or paintings in that don’t appeal anymore. These particular frames I bought years ago in an interior design store filled with shabby chic delights. The photographs that filled the frames originally had faded beyond…
