Painting Success

It is now exactly a month after our VERY successful exhibition and we still stand in awe of what the Lord can do if one put your trust in Him. Our success, fortunately, did not end with the closing of the exhibition. In fact that was just the starting point. Since then Simonette and I both sold some more of the paintings that were exhibited and both of us also got quite a few commissions.
We are very grateful for all the good that has come our way this year, and we are looking forward to even greater blessings next year.
At the moment we are still working hard to get all the commissions done, that's why I've been so quiet. That and the fact that I lost my very dearest furry friend Ami.

Here is one of my commissions - my friend's Schnauzer Tiger:

And here is another commission from a friend. Its from a picture of her grandchildren taken at a birthday party. Faces are always difficult but I think I got the likeness.

And here is a commission Simontte finished today.

If you want to commission a painting, done by either Simonette or me, you can just mail me a picture and the size you want it to be, and I will send you a quote and other information. It can be anything, portraits, pets, abstract, landscape, still life, wildlife. Just CLICK HERE to send an e-mail.

Exhibition now ONLINE

The recent Kaleidoscope of Colour Art Exhibition can now be viewed online on my website. View Online Now.

The paintings that have not been sold on the day of the exhibition is still available at SPECIAL exhibition prices. That will be so for a limited time ONLY. So if you want a real bargain, do not wait too long. The paintings are worth much more than they are priced, but we want to help you to get some nice original paintings for Christmas gifts!

Thank you for your support.

And PLEASE tell us what you think of our exhibition!

Congratulations!!!!

Kaleidoscope of Colour

Raffle

Congratulations to Danel Hanekom from Pretoria, who are the lucky winner of the raffle that we had during our exhibition. Unfortunately there can be only one winner. We would also like to thank everybody who participated.

Lucky Draw

Everyone who came to our exhibition on Saturday qualified for the Lucky Draw. Our winner is Ansie Strydom. Congratulations to you Ansie. Here is a picture of the painting that Ansie won.

Success, success, success!!!

That is how we can describe our first self-organised art exhibition, Kaleidoscope of Colour, which took place on Saturday, 27 October. (Artists were Simonette van Oudtshoorn, Marietjie du Toit, Adele van Andel, Christelle Coetzee and Anton Betz.) It exceeded our wildest dreams and expectations. God blessed us with the most amazing day. There were a constant flow of people from 9am till after 6pm. Everybody enjoyed the snacks and wine, but most of all they enjoyed our very professional display of high quality art.

People walked up and down, taking pictures, enjoying the tranquil atmosphere, breathing in the beauty of the venue itself and the stunning paintings from all the artists. It was just awesome to see how everyone enjoyed the day. We received numerous compliments and positive feedback. Everybody just wants to know when our next exhibition is going to be.

Above all else we were also blessed in that we sold 23 out of the 55 paintings that were exhibited on the day. We also received a few commissions for paintings.

We give God the glory for all the amazing miracles He performed on Saturday.

I believe that even greater things will flow out of this very successful exhibition. We will always aim to provide better and better quality art at the most affordable prices at our next exhibitions.

If you missed out and couldn't be there on Saturday, the whole exhibition can be viewed on my website from Friday  2 November. Paintings that were not sold, will still be available online at exhibition prices, but only until the end of December.

We were so extremely busy the whole day that I didn't have time to take lots of pictures, but here follows a few:

First it took lots of hard work to prepare the venue and to hang all the paintings. Here my friend Nico were helping us.

 Simonette busy organizing on her Blackberry. Everything still standing around.

Anton Betz on the day of the exhibition

Simonette with her stunning African Celebration, or as we sometimes call them, the dancing queens!

Afterwards we celebrated with champagne and a braai

Quick Note

Painting of the Month: October

It is already the 6th of October and I have only now posted a new "Painting of the Month" on my website. My apologies for that. I have been so busy painting and preparing for our upcoming exhibition the end of the month (Read more here: Kaleidoscope of Colour), that I haven't had time to update the website. But I have done it now and you click HERE to go directly to October's painting. If you buy it now you save $100.

Painting to be Won

Kaleidoscope of Colour Art Exhibition

Raffle

This is the painting that can be won on the day of the exhibition. The raffle is open to all South Africans - you do NOT need to be in Cape Town and you do NOT need to come to the exhibition. You only need to buy a ticket of R50 and your name will be entered. If you are not in Cape Town and you want to enter, please e-mail me and I will send you the necessary details for entering.

The painting is named Sunset Beach; it is done in oil on boxed canvas and the size is 750 x 500mm. It is an original MS du Toit painting and it would normally sell for about R1700. So it is a very good investment if you can win this painting and you only paid R50 which is the price of two lattes! What do you have to loose? Unfortunately if you are not in Cape Town, and you win the painting you will also be liable for the postage. But it would still be a good investment. So please send those e-mails and buy your tickets!

To send an e-mail just click on: Raffle Ticket

Kaleidoscope of Colour - Art Exhibition

You are invited!!!!

We have been planning and painting very hard for this exhibition that will take place on the 27th of October. The other artists and myself are very exited and we trust that it will be a fantastic day. There will be many exiting surprises on the day, so be sure not to miss it if you are anywhere in or near Cape Town that day!

To mention just two things: we will have a raffle where one of my own paintings worth about R1700 can be won. Tickets for the raffle is R50 and can also be bought online. This raffle is open to anybody, even if you cannot come to the exhibition. More about that tomorrow!

There will also be a Lucky Draw where someone that attended the exhibition will be the winner of a smaller painting worth about R550.

The whole exhibition will also be made available for viewing and buying online from the 30th of October.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

More on Colour

It is a very time consuming exercise, but worth the effort - and that is to take each colour that you have and mix it with every other colour and paint little colour charts. It is most amazing to discover all the colours that you can mix.

You can go further and mix three colours, or add white, gray and black. I have done it before, but I am doing it again, because I have bought some new tube colours that I have not had previously.

Another exercise in colour would be to take pictures from magazines and try to mix colours to match specific colours.

Another good exercise is to do small paintings with a limited palette, in other words with only 2 or 3 colours plus white. You will be amazed at what you can achieve doing that.
This painting was done with only 3 colours plus white.

I am promoting the work of Richard Robinson, because he is a great painter in every aspect, but especially in the area of use of colours. You can sign up at his website and he will send you a lot of FREE information, video clips etc. You can also buy DVDs from him which is really good. Enjoy!

Mastering Colour in Oil Painting

There are so many factors that should work together to make a good painting. The artist cannot just concentrate on composition and nothing else. Or he cannot just concentrate on descriptive brush work and nothing else. He has to also consider form, drawing, values and the underlying abstract design. And then there is colour! As an artist you have to be able to mix the infinite number of colours that the creation displays with only a few tube colours. Of cause you cannot really do that, but by the right use of colours (tube and mixed) you can create the impression of millions of colours. The study of colour is a whole science in itself. I am only beginning to understand colours and relation between different colours.

If you are an artist and you want to learn more about colour, I can really recommend the work and material of a famous New Zealand artist, Richard Robinson. By visiting his website and registering for the FREE lessons would be a very wise step. You can also buy his DVDs and printable books on painting and especially colour in oil painting.

Painting to Give

It is so that it is a greater blessing to give than to receive, and I have given many paintings away as birthday gifts, wedding gifts or just because someone realy liked a certain painting and I felt like giving it away. This time I did a painting for a specific organization. My parents are in Mossel Bay and they are very involved in the sevice centre, Kenani, for the old people. Kenani helps a lot of old people with housing, caring, meals and entertainment. But they are also very dependant on donations and they themselves work very hard to always get enough money so they provide all these services to old people that are really needy. This year is their 21st anniversary and I have decided to do this painting so they can sell for their profit.
It is also very neatly framed, although I don't have a picture of it in its frame. I really hope that they will get a very good price for it.

Remember to visit my newly updated website: Painted Canvas.

Go to: My painting of the month

Download FREE greeting cards

Learn how to Paint

Oil Painting Website Update

Buy my Paintings - made easy!

The last few days I have been working very hard to update my official website: Painted Canvas.
You are now able to buy my available oil painting through the secure PayPal system by simply clicking on the "Buy Now" buttons. That will take you to the PayPal site where you just have to follow the instructions. Once you have made the purchase I will be notified and I will immediately take the painting you paid for to be packaged and send to you.

Painting of the Month

My updated website also now offers a special discounted price on a "Painting of the Month". There will be a different painting every month. On this page I also give a short discussion about the painting.

Lttle Gems

From now on I will also offer you some smaller and more affordable painting, I call "Little Gems". These paintings will not cost you more than $100 per painting. This is a great place to start investing in my paintings. At the moment there are only two, but believe me that number will quickly grow. Make sure to visit the website often.

Learn how to paint!

So you yourself want to start painting, or you are are already painting, but you want to get better at that - visit the "Links" page and follow the links to some Master Classes in oil painting.

Vuleka Art Competition

It was an eye opener! My two artworks were NOT chosen to be exhibited, so I will try not to criticize or sound bitter. But looking at what were chosen, I have to ask myself "What is art?" "Who decides that?" I must admit that there were a number of pieces where I stood still and admired the skill and time that must have gone in there. But then there were pieces that would really give anyone nightmares. What is ART? Is it art to display 7 plates you bought at a pawnshop? It is a different story if you were the one that made those plates. But who am I to judge, I do not have a degree in fine arts.

One thing I have decided last night was, that I will not compromise. I will enter competitions, but I will not paint weird stuff that I think would impress the judges. I will work hard, I will learn, I will grow in skills, AND I will only paint from the heart. I will create paintings that people would look at and say "I would mind having that against a wall in my house."

I believe this is one of those that came from the heart:

We have a date!!! - 27 Oct

My house is full of canvasses. Some are finished, some unfinished and now I have just bought 20 more. Like I mentioned last time, Simonette and I are preparing for our exhibition. And we have now decided on a date - 27 October 2012. So if you are anywhere near Bellville, Cape Town, on that day - don't miss it! There will be something for everyone, from abstract, impressionistic, realistic and so on. We have also asked 3 other artists to join us. All the work will be made very affordable for anyone. As I said everything is fresh from the easel, you will not see work that have been posted here or on the web, or that have been at previous exhibitions. Everything is new and remember the latest work is normally also the best work to date.

There will be a painting to be won on the day. Tickets will be available at R50 each and you will stand a chance to win a painting by myself worth R2500. Attendants will also stand a chance to draw discount vouchers of up to 20% on any painting

Let me just mention that this exhibition is not a sale of stuff we cannot get rid of. We want to make it possible for any person to own original oil and acrylic paintings.

I will keep you posted, for now, we are just working (painting) very hard.

Work in progress...

It is HARD work to become Renoir - one has to read, learn, do, practise, paint, redo, learn more and start all over again. To be able to sell more paintings in your lifetime than Vincent had, you also have to spend a LOT of time doing market research, marketing, planning, and that takes time away from creating and learning how to create. And then you also have to do the boring things that bring in some money now so that you can eat.  So I am sorry I haven't been here on the blog for a few weeks, I have been busy with all those other things.

BUT, the exciting news is that, first of all, I have entered another competition with 2 of my paintings. The Wild Horse of a previous post, and my guitar man, I Play the Songs. I will only  know by next Wednesday whether any or both were chosen to be exhibited. There were apparently more than 300 entries. I will tell you next week what the outcome was.

The other exciting thing is that a friend and I are planning an exhibition of our latest works - most are still to be created. It will be a very colourful display with a summer theme. It will be held on a Saturday in October. We must still decide on the exact date. If you are in or near Cape Town you would not want to miss that. There will be the usual snacks and wine, or coffee or tea if you wish, but there will also be a number of other exiting surprises.

So my friend, Simonette, and I are very busy painting and preparing for the exhibition. Tuesdays are our painting days where we come together to paint at my house and in the evening at painting class. Here is pic of Simonette busy with one of her works. You can also see the fire burning in the background to braai some sausage for us for lunch.

The next pic is one of mine where I have just finished the under-painting. This one is actually an experiment with complementary colours, so red will become green, yellow will become purple, orange will become blue. This is a scene of the Overberg near Caledon. With all the rain that they had there, the landscape is absolutely beautiful with the canola full in flower. I will only post a pic of the finished painting after the exhibition has ended. In fact I will add a page to my website with pics of all the paintings with exhibition prices for the ones not sold on the day.

I will keep you posted concerning our exhibition!!!! So keep coming back to this blog!
Please if anyone has some more ideas to make an exhibition a success, please comment!

"I play the songs" is available:  

Atmosphere in Paintings

It is difficult, maybe impossible, to say what the most important aspect of a painting is. What is it that makes a good painting?
Here is a list of some of the most important aspects:

1. The Notan or abstract design
2. The composition
3. The drawing
4. The colour harmony
5. The brush work
6. Atmosphere

A painting with excellent brush work but lack of good composition will not be appealing, a painting with good colour harmony but poor drawing, will once again not be appealing. A painting should really have to have all the aspects working together to really be a good painting. One of the most difficult things is to create atmosphere. Personally I think it helps to leave out some detail; to leave it to the viewer's own imagination to fill in the gaps. It is good to have some dark areas in a painting, where the viewer has to decide what is happening there. Atmosphere can also be created with certain lighting conditions like early morning fog in a landscape, the yellow-orange light in the late afternoon.

I still have to learn so much, but I think that with this painting I have managed to create atmosphere. You can be the judge. I would like to here from you!

No Third Time Lucky

My lady in blue - Peace in War - didn't make it! I am disappointed, but so are many others, and in any way this is not the kind of competition that Renoir would have won. We had to write out the concept, which I am going to post here in just a moment and I am also now going to show you my painting. The painting is 600 x 800mm, boxed canvas so it doesn't need framing. You are welcome to make me an offer for her. After two weeks, if I didn't get a good offer, I will price her and add her to my website.
Please tell me what you think. Here is the concept:

Peace in War
This painting is about peace in the midst of war and joy in the midst of misery. Since the beginning of time there have always been people who are able to find peace and joy in the midst of war, anger and rage. In the South Africa of today it is no different. There are people unable to get past their feelings of anger and bitterness, while there are those who fill their lives with joy and contentment. Their circumstances are the same, but they do not allow them to control their emotions and their lives. They have a higher life; they rise above their circumstances. They have an inner peace that surpasses all understanding. The artist aims to show that no matter what the circumstances, it is what is in the heart that allows a person to dance with joy. Peace and joy should and can only come from within. The background is dark where the people in anger find themselves, weapons lifted high, ready for war. Crimson, which symbolises anger, is used in the background figures. They have turned their backs towards the light showing their decision to be angry and at war. A black woman has been chosen as the focal point, as her hardships in life would give her many reasons to be angry and bitter. Yet even amongst the most under-privileged, we find individuals at peace with themselves living a joyous life.

Make sure to have a look at previous winners of the Sasol New Signatures competition and later this year of this year's winners.

My first competition

Today I have entered my first art competition...no, actually it is my third competition. The very first art competition that I have entered was way back when I was only about 3 or 4 years old. It was a colouring competition and I remember I went all over the lines - but guess what, I won. The first prize was 12 bottles of soda cool drink. The second competition was the one I wrote about earlier. That was also my first oil painting, and I also won. Maybe I am third time lucky.

This time the first prize is a substantial amount of money. The money would be very welcome but I think the exposure will be even greater. Unfortunately I cannot reveal any details at the moment and I also not show you my painting. I do not want to compromise my chances in any way. I will know by next week if my painting has gone through to the next round or not. I will keep you up to date and as soon as I can, I will post a picture of this painting. Just hold your thumbs for me in the mean while.

Paintings of France - latest creation

I am so proud of my latest painting, I just needed to show you. I started it last week in our painting class and I finished it yesterday afternoon. With this painting my aim was to really show late afternoon light and also create a peaceful scene. I hope that you see that. It is no where specific but I guess it can be somewhere in Europe, maybe France. Although it is quite a busy painting with many elements, I think that because of the colour harmony the whole is unified.

It also has a definate eye movement. Your eye is brought into the painting by the cast shadow of the tree to the focus point which is the figure sitting against the tree. It then moves up the tree and to the right to almost autumn leaves. From there it scans the houses and boats and then comes back river bank to the figure. I think it has a strong composition and good light and shadow design.

What is also interesting is that this painting could actually be broken up into various other paintings. It is fairly large, 1.5m x .5m. Here I show you two paintings within this painting - can you see more. What do you think about this painting? Please leave a comment!

For the love of horses...

I am an animal person. Ever since I can remember we had dogs in the house. The first dog I can remember was Miekie, a Schipperke. Then there were Border Collies, Klonkie, Kaptein and Katinka. My first dog was Prince, a German Shepherd cross. I also had Jessie and then Tessa and now I have a Bearded Collie, Ami, and a Border Collie, Maggie. We also had a cat, Donsie, and although we got her as a male, she had many kittens. We had white mice and budgies then we also had horses. First my brother had a horse and later he sold that horse and got another one. Then when I got older I bought a horse for R100 ($11) and the saddle cost me R500 ($55).
Those were wonderful times when I could get on my bicycle after school and ride to the farm where my horse was walking, ride the horse, then ride the 7km back to our house before dark. Good times, wonderful times, carefree days!
Anyway I bought a couple of books about horses, and I started drawing horses. Last year I, actually for the first time, started doing oil paintings of horses. I will show them all to you, but this one is my favourite. I love this painting, because of the light and dark contrast. This painting is also my largest. It is still available and if you are interested in buying it from me, just say the word and I will give more details. I really hope you also like this wild horse of mine!

Roses for a friend

A friend commissioned me to do a painting for her sister who is also a very special friend of mine. She said it is my decision as to what to paint, how large and I could also get it framed with the frame of my choice. Sounds like an easy task, but it was not. I thought long and hard about what I should do. Finally I decided on a still life with roses. Now roses (my opinion) is the most difficult thing to paint. I got some reference material ready, I bought a bunch of roses, my canvas, paint and so on. I was ready to paint roses - my very first attempt. I decided on the colours that I wanted to use that would compliment each other and be in harmony.

I started painting, and along the way I had to scrape a lot of paint off the canvas from roses that did not work. Then I tried again, and again, and finally this is the result of hours of work. I took the painting to the framers when it was finally dry to the touch and decided on the frame. What a huge difference the right frame makes to a painting!!! I still consider this painting as one of my best. I just love this painting, and my friend also loves her gift from her sister.

I did a couple other paintings of roses also in the meantime, but I know I still have a lot to learn about roses and how to paint them. I hope you also like this painting - please tell me if you do!

First Portrait - Famous Afghan girl

It is always scary to try something for the first time - I think it is even more scary if you attempt your first portrait! It certainly was for me. But I decided it was time, and I searched the Internet for a nice photo of a person. I decided to use the famous picture of the Afghan girl which was on the front cover of National Geographic. Anyway, I started with the background, then blocked in the clothing and then the face. Then I started modelling the face, building it up in layers.
I must mention that I almost always work wet on wet, which means that I paint on wet paint. I do not wait for one layer of paint to dry before I paint the next layer. That also means that I cannot really do "dry-brush" and I also cannot do glazing. Dry-brush means applying paint with a brush that is fairly dry onto a dry layer of paint. Glazing is to apply a thin layer of transparent paint mixed with turps and oil onto a already dry layer of paint. Both these methods let the first layer of paint show through.
The way I prefer to paint is to paint the thinner, darker paint first and building the painting up using thicker paint in each additional layer. I keep the highlights for last, and it is just amazing how the highlights make the painting come alive. The thin paint should always be at the bottom, because if you put a layer of thin paint over thicker paint, the thin paint will dry first and as the bottom thicker layers dry, the top thin layer will crack.
Here is my first portrait. I must say I was very impressed with the outcome. Actually I couldn't believe that I was able to do it. Now I know anything is possible. If I put my heart and my time into painting, I might one day be able to paint like Renoir!

This painting is not for sale. I only did it as an exercise in portrait painting. There is copyright on the original photo and although my painting is not exactly the same, it still is recognizable.

For more portraits and paintings of  figures visit my website Painted Canvas.

Notan (abstract) pattern - strong design

They say (and they are not the You magazine! They are famous and well established artists), anyway, they say that a painting must have a strong underlying abstract design (also known as Notan design) to be a good painting. The question might be asked, what is a good painting? And who decides what the criteria is for a good painting? Every artist has his or her own unique style and taste. Every viewer has his or her own unique taste. So who is right? I like Renoir's paintings, someone else likes the paintings of Jackson Pollock more.

My personal view is that a painting is good if it draws the viewer's eye into the painting towards the centre of interest, and as soon as the viewer moves his eye away from that focus point, the painting immediately forces him to move his eye back to that focus point. The viewer might not even like the subject matter, or the style of brushwork, or the colours, but he just can't stop looking at the painting.

Remember, I am still learning! I am showing you 2 of my paintings with their abstract designs. The first one does not have a strong design. It might be a nice painting, but it is not a good painting. The dark areas are too scattered.

The second painting is a good painting with a very strong abstract design. It has a definite centre of interest. Can you see what it is? Take note how your eye moves around the picture. Does it go back to that centre of interest every time? This painting also received the most compliments from artists on the Paintings I Love website.

Bold Brush Strokes

Sorry, I lost my chronological order! I don't think artists are very organised people. I know I am not! We have gone through most of my earlier works, so from now on I will show you works that have been done in the last few years. Most of them, in the last 2 years.

In between my earlier works and my later works were a period that I really didn't paint much. I started a freelance graphic design business and worked day and night. It was only since last year that I started attending painting classes, that I got more serious about working towards being a full time painter. I am not there yet. I just hope people will start investing in my art before I leave earth for the new Jerusalem!

I want to show you this painting, one of my abstract works. I kind of like it. I certainly enjoyed painting it. I could do anything, I was free, I used bold strokes and I think it was a good exercise in painting in a very loose style. Look at the brush marks on the close-up, it is a composition of its own.

Tell me if you like this painting, and if you do you can visit my website Painted Canvas to download a set of greeting cards for free. This painting is on one of the greeting cards.

Cape Town - Bo-Kaap

The Bo-Kaap district of Cape Town is probably the most colourful neighbourhood in the whole of South Africa. It is definitely worth a visit if you ever come to Cape Town. It is one of the areas of the Mother City which lies between the central business district and Table Mountain. The best way to explore this neighbourhood is on foot. You can walk on the cobble stone streets and just experience the uniqueness. Drop into one of the restaurants and enjoy a traditional Cape Malay lunch like bobotie. The houses are all painted in very bright and beautiful colours and against the backdrop of the blueness of Table Mountain it makes a beautiful picture.

I am sure there are already thousands of paintings of the Bo-Kaap, and even more photos by amateurs as well as professionals. Well, of cause I also had to do a painting of the Bo-Kaap. After all, isn't that what Renoir would have done?

I still remember the day. It was during the Soccer World Cup in South Africa. My parents were visiting me and I started the painting in the morning. It took me the whole day and my mother had to prepare the lunch and dinner. After dinner I finished the painting. It now belongs to my nephew, so it is not available. To see a collection of my available paintings you can visit my website: Painted Canvas. Enjoy!

Self-portrait - A Closer Look

There were some requests from family members that I post my self-portrait that I painted 2 weeks ago on my blog. It is from a photo taken when I was about 3 years old. It was taken in the children's pool at the Worcester municipality swimming pools. We often went there when visiting my grand parents during holidays. They stayed very close to the swimming pools and I remember we often walked there.

With this figure / portrait study I worked with a limited palette to produce a monochrome painting. Although it might look as if I have used black and white, there is not a single drop of black paint on the canvas. I use Ultramarine blue, Burnt umber and Raw sienna to create the darks and I just add white to create the lighter values. At the end I just added a few patches of Raw sienna here and there to bring in some colour. I very seldom use black in my paintings. Black is a very dead and flat colour to use. If you mix other colours to create your darks it has much more depth and it adds interest to the paintings. I like the combination of Ultramarine, Burnt umber and Raw sienna, because it also adds warmth.

The top picture is a photo of the original photo, and the bottom picture is then my painting.
If you want a painting or paintings of yourself or your children when they were young, you are most welcome to contact me. My contact details are also on my website: Painted Canvas. There will also find a collection of most of my paintings. Make sure to visit my website often because I will almost weekly add new paintings. Enjoy!

Caravan and Desert Dunes

This was painting that one of my friends asked me to do. She worked in the Middle East for a while and came back and she just couldn't get on without the desert. I can imagine that the desert and vast open spaces can grow on you. So she asked me to paint a desert scene. It is quite a large painting and took me a while to finish. I really enjoyed this challenge and I hope that I was able to capture something about the silence and peace and atmosphere of the desert. Maybe you can leave a comment and tell me what you think!

The Overberg

This is an area in South Africa that is always most beautiful. In autumn to winter the wheat and canola fields are so green it is almost unreal, especially if they had good rains. In Spring to early summer when the canola starts flowering you have the most amazing yellow fields, green wheat fields with the backdrop of blue mountains and even bluer skies. Then the wheat turns golden and the whole area looks different and has another beauty to it. For painters and photographers this area is a "must" to visit. I have the privilege to drive through there when I visit my parents and I am always amazed at the awesomeness and beauty of the landscape.

Up to now I haven't done many paintings of the Overberg, but they are on my "to do" list. I wonder what was on Renoir's "to do" list???
This painting is a scene on a friend's farm. When I look at it, I can feel the quietness and peace? Do you also feel that?

FREE Download

If you are one of those people who, like me, always forget to buy a birthday or greeting card - this is for you. I have designed a couple of greeting cards with my paintings on that you can download for FREE. You are welcome to print these out as many times as you wish and to use them to send to friends and family.
Here is just one of the paintings I have used. This is one of my abstract paintings.
The link where you can download the pdf file is:

Link To Download

My official painting website

I have finally finished my website where you can view all of my paintings. Well not all, but all those that I have pictures of. There you will get information about which one's are available for sale and sizes and prices. My website also contains links to other sites and blogs that I own. The site is one that will constantly change with added paintings, links and information. So please bookmark my site and make sure to visit often. And let me know what you think and if you have any valuable suggestions I would appreciate it.

Here is the link:

Painted Canvas

One last visit to Arniston

Back in the nineties! This, I think, is my best painting so far of Arniston. I say "so far", because I would love to go back there and paint plein air. That means painting right there on the spot in the open. I would love to capture the moment, or many moments. Painting like that forces you to paint fast, because atmospheric conditions change every second. And that is even more true of coastal areas. So it will be a challenge, but I know it will be a great learning curve. I have never painted like that. I have painted straight from memory, from pencil scribbles and from photos.

Some people, when they visit you, drain the life out of you, others leave you unchanged. And then you get people that, when they leave, you feel enriched. I gave this painting to a couple who enriched me by their visit.

Painting Classes

Adele helping Simonette

Since May 2011 my Tuesday evenings became the highlight of my week. That was when I have decided to join an art class. And that was the best thing I could do for my art career.  (And by the way, I know this post is not chronological. We will go back in time in the following posts, but I promised my friends at the art class I will put their pics on this post.)

This evening was a little different than other evenings - we had to drink coffee - we didn't have wine! Therefor we were also more quiet and only a few people were there tonight. But as always, it was good to be there, interact with people, paint and learn from each other.

Tonight I once again painted with a limited pallet using only Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna and White and I made a small painting of myself when I was only about 3 years old. Adele had to help me with the face. I am very pleased with the painting.









Almost finished!


















Lady in red!
























Sue is making good progress!












Here I am trying to paint myself. I will definitely recommend to anybody who like painting and who want to learn more, to join a class like this. Here you are in an environment where people inspire each other. Not only have I seen progress in my own work, but also in the work of each and every person in the class. In this class there is a Rembrandt, a Cezanne, a Monet, a Vincent, a Leonardo and maybe, just maybe, also a Renoir!