All quiet here in the mist!

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This is my third post in which I will try to portray the tranquility and quiet simplicity of life on the West Coast. This scene is very close to home now. The plain hedge made of saplings form the only fence between our home and the wilder parts of the reserve.

A little sparrow passed by on a misty morning and rested on the fence for a moment. My guest photographer, Jon Ivins, captured the image on camera and I used several techniques to portray it. This included very wet paint on a thin wet layer of white acrylic paint, wet-on-wet painting, and some scratching out. The woody rails and the sparrow were painted with dry undiluted acrylics.

The other photos were taken close by. Aren't they super? Jon is a professional photographer who covers great sporting events, but his food photos may also make your mouth water on the wall of a fast food place! Or else, he aims at nature, in all it's beauty, or even go underwater to show a paddling event from another angle. I think I will disclose that he is also my son-in-law! You can visit the wonderful world of Jon Ivins here, and there is some snazzy music too!

Cape Columbine Lighthouse

16 x 20

Acrylic on stretched canvas.

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The Cape Columbine Lighthouse is on the South side of Paternoster where it is built high on Castle Rock in a nature reserve. The rewards from spices and porcelain from the East must have outweighed the dangers for many merchant ships from Europe. How else would they sail along the treacherous West Coast of the Cape with its offshore reefs, knowing that they could easily share the watery grave of in excess of 200 ships?

This very attractive lighthouse is unusual in shape as it was built in the popular Art Deco style of the 1930's. It was the last manned lighthouse in South Africa and was a sensation because of its flashing lamp that replaced earlier oil- and- wick systems. It is visible for 32 nautical miles and the safety of current-day ships is also assured by radio signals and a foghorn.

I finished this scene some days ago. I added these close-up seagulls to the composition. But now I am somewhat puzzled and doubtful....can such a scene where the artist is supposed to be on ground level, but a bird's eye view prevails, really exist? Nevertheless, we will let it pass!

After the Rain

There is so much to see here at the seaside after heavy rains. I always go down to observe those enormous waves, heavy with water after the previous day's deluge. This little guy is sitting here like a statue. Shall we try to guess his thoughts?

Maybe he is thinking of NATURE, the immense power of the storming waves. He can watch the seagulls diving down for all the "fast food" like "storm-crushed mussels". He can watch that brown mass in the water which is kelp that has been uprooted and will soon be thrown out on the pebbles to rot. He can count the waves and wait for every 7th one, which is the big one!

He can also consider HISTORY! This exact spot claimed The British Peer in 1896. (Wikepedia made one mistake. It was not at Saldanha but at Kabeljoubank where it wrecked!) The ship's ballast consisted of small red and yellow Victorian facebricks. Nowadays, when somebody collects pebbles and shells they will find the completely rounded "brick pebbles" as a reminder of that large wreck. The boy may also think sad thoughts of family tragedy. I once met an older couple sitting here, who said that their son had an accident in a little boat here. This, unfortunately is something that often takes place on the West Coast!

But, knowing boys, I think it is GEOGRAPHY on his mind, of leaving one day for places far away. Ask a local person what you will find over the water and they answer "England". The English arrived along these shores when they attacked the country in the beginning and again at the end of the nineteenth century, so maybe that planted the idea. But if our boy travels as the crow flies he will reach Uruguay!

After the rock painting, I remained in the mood for subjects of limited colour, so I will search for one of our local "wildlife", a Cape franklin, vole, mongoose or tortoise to paint next. The colours waiting on my palette are black, white, yellow ocre, Indian red and the one I can never do without: Prussian Blue.