I am a full time, independent artist, painting professionally since 2014. I started my art business in Stellenbosch where I studied & lived for many years, & have since relocated to the Eastern Cape where my husband & I also run a leather factory. Our home is found at the foot of a beautiful misty mountain, where we ride our horses, take our twin daughters for picnics & grow our heirloom seeds in our organic vegetable garden. Our leather products represent our lifestyle, from intricate saddles, tailored leather jackets, to home decor products. We love what we do, & take great pride in what we produce with our hands.
Oh absolutely as a little girl, wanting to be Italian & an artist. The Italian part is only true for how animated I communicate with my hands. The artist part, I passionately practiced on my own, with no eyes for as long as I can remember. I still have my very first sketches that my mom kept for me, with my first elephant sketch hanging humbly in my studio. My Grade 1 teacher picked up on my natural ability to express ideas through art mediums & encouraged me greatly, making a lifelong impact on my desire to pursue it. Due to the small town I grew up in, I never had access to any form of an art class, so I would be classed as a “self-taught” artist I suppose.
Having not studied art formally (I’d still do so in a heartbeat) I embarked on a career with no clue as to what the market may want & with nothing to lose. I grew up around horses, classic cars, vintage motorcycles & flowers. All these themes were what I started off with in deciding on a route to take, especially as these themes I knew with my heart. The vintage motorcycle pieces took to the streets at a speed I didn’t expect, quickly drawing attention from the international online community. By 2015 I had been featured on major online communities, pulling eyes to my growing portfolio. I exhibited in all the major cities locally, and was fortunate to travel through California with two exhibitions, & experience the resilient former-Soviet city of Minsk, Belarus for an extensive, solo exhibition in their main art center in the CBD. Incredible experiences after that with corporate pieces for the local BMW Motorrad, Mercedes-Benz International & Wargaming in tow.
Well. We are busy building a greenhouse-like studio for my husband & I to work in next to our main workshop. Apart from still painting commissions, building out our textile portfolio, refining our leather jackets; I am taking on print & paint making. My journey with Linocut print making amongst others starts now, as well as my watercolour paint making. Looking forward to showing you the results.
