How gratifying is in not to share in another’s victory, another’s talent? How small would our world be, if we could not look at something someone else made and be moved by it, as they were. Its as if the appreciating of another’s work brings the delight you experience while making your own, come full circle. A brother in arms, if you will.
Because I am an artist, my eye connects with design, colours, simplicity, complexity, texture and imagery as if it is a chord played that finds its resonance inside me. What a marvellous view to cultivate and grow in. When the eye sees something it likes, I am left with an interpretation of what that means to me, and left with a inspiration to go and create too. My mom always tugs playfully at my ability to walk in to a store and be able to identify what I like almost immediately, or, if there is nothing there that stands out. More often that not, should something stand out, it would be the most expensive item in store, but that is a whole other in-house joke.
When it comes to mediums of expression, I prefer watercolour, ink and graphite. Though one should always be open to growth in other areas, its like these three and my hand understand each other and I am just invited along for the preview as an after thought.
The artist whose work I enjoy uses oil paint on canvas as a medium. Luhanri Bekker is a local lady who has done a series of portraits of local faces. Beautiful. When I look at them I see captured a deep-etched sincerity that has you wonder what is going through the subject’s mind that had them arrange their face in that way. Her brush strokes seem to run. When I say run, I mean the kind where your ice-cream cone melts on a hot day and your aim is to savour its short existence. No, her paintings don’t look like ice-cream:) and neither do they melt. But they do have a liquid quality about them that makes them seem as a brief glimpse, that if not savoured, it will pass you by. Her paintings are on display at the Guesthouse of the Holden Manz Wine Estate in Franschhoek, Western Cape.
Lorraine Loots is another local lady to have a look at. She completed a “Post Card for Ants” series. Ants, you read right:) Her paintings are tiny, like in the size of a small coin tiny. Fantastic detail goes into these miniature pieces and her use of watercolour as medium to do so won me over instantly. She did a painting a day inspired by the city of Cape Town and her 365 artworks are currently on display at 6 Spin Street Restaurant, in Cape Town.
Well done ladies! I tip my hat to you.