Diamonds on the West Coast

Diamonds, like all other products, have been given to man to utilize and create jobs. If you are not into the romantic side of these blingy bits, consider that they are also very useful in industry because of their hardness and strength.

I found these lovely colourful diamond trawlers at Lambert's Bay, the best area for maritime diamond mining. This industry has only been commercially viable since the 1990's. Seabed crawlers can be remote controlled but mostly divers are needed. These divers, who can only work about six days per month because of our famous stormy waters, have to work in the cold of the Atlantic Ocean for up to 8 hours. When they spot diamond-bearing gravel on the seabed they direct the suction hoses towards it.

The gravel is then pumped onto sorting tables. When the boats return, the diamonds are taken ashore. What I loved about this scene was the hollow hoses floating on top the water, providing seating for hundreds of Cape Cormorants.

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A Wish for the West Coast

When you have been away for a month, you will always look anew at your home turf. In Pretoria, I was charmed by the very positive outlook of people, the lovely climate, the lush parks and gardens. Something that is almost a phenomena is the ability of people up there to create! The markets, whether they are permanent, or held weekly or annually, just have so much that is beautiful and of a high quality.

Back home, I need to make a few fast sketches of some boats at Velddrif. There is a large hall, quite spacious at the little harbour and it is divided into market stalls, but the spark is not there and the visitors are scarce. Seeing that the West Coast is rather poor, it would have been lovely if the same quality home bakes and crafts that we see a few kilometers further in Paternoster could be offered here. This prettiest and most historical of harbours just do not see the visitors it could receive.

Lately, we have seen far too many impersonal malls appear on the West Coast, it would be lovely to see this great space at Velddrif become something much more craft-friendly.

Here, once again, I have painted a colourful little boat in the mouth of the Berg River at Velddrif. As you can see it is not seriously realistic! I preferred to play around with some designs, like those repetitive rings!

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Post # 100!! Art Blogging is Tops!

This is my hundredth post. I have not completed a painting as I am working on a commission and the sketches took some planning. One of them will be finished for the next blog. They are all about the people of the West Coast and what they do. I think I will call the set:Folks and Fish

I love art blogging! Art blogging is Tops! In no other way would one be so committed to paint year in, year out and that without a sense of rushing. (One or two exhibitions a year make up for the rushing part!) My nicest surprises as a new art blogger were when I featured on other art or travel blogs.

1. South African Blog of 2009 winner PORTFOLIO gave me a short feature in November: Marie Theron-Documenting the Real West Coast in Paint and Words .
2. This was followed by another article on PORTFOLIO in December: 10 Questions for West Coast Artist Marie Theron .
3. Here is an article Marie Theron-West Coast Artist which appeared on Bokkom.
4. In the beginning of 2010 Katherine Tyrrell started 'The Art of The Landscape' and bloggers were challenged to analyse their own paintings. I liked the idea and wrote: The Wheatfield and Why it was Successful. Katherine, a top 5 blogger in the UK placed me in an article: Self-Critique Marie Theron.
5. What a lovely surprise it was when 'Art with Liz' made special mention of my work on the West Coast in the post Bergriver, Velddrif.
6. Friendly Liz visited me at home in April where we shared sherry and a fire and chatted up a storm. She wrote: Velddrif in April. I featured in many of the comments from her friends too! Bloggers are so kind!
7. Paying my regular online visit to Postcards from the Hammer, Catherine Jeffrey's blog, I was very thrilled to find my name in the post Yonge Street Patterns 2, Toronto, Ontario.

My husband once teased that bloggers give each other a warm feeling! Exactly!

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Bokkoms: Turning from Silver to Gold

As the little fish dry out they become thin, papery and have a rich golden hue. In my painting I show some people deftly gutting and skinning the fish. It is good to watch them for a while as you can then have a few bokkoms weighed out and clean them yourself at home. The meaty part is then cut into tiny strips. About these workers: no assembly line here as each worker makes him/herself comfortable on an upturned crate and sit either in the shade or in the sun. Later I strolled up and down the Berg River looking at every bird, boat, bend and island in the river, and still the lady in the yellowish t-shirt concentrated on her task, never moving, maybe because the knife was very sharp. "Her back!" I thought, and tried to paint the tension in those back muscles.

So how do we eat this delicacy? No doubt, the great cooks will invent some interesting pates for us, but here on the West Coast bokkoms are either eaten as a salty snack with ice cold bear or wine, or the other way, the high calorie way, which is how I and most people prefer it: Take home-baked oven-warm white bread, plaster it with real butter, add a good dollop of sweet apricot preserve and arrange the bokkoms on top. Pour a cup of the best coffee with it. Now I know how I am going to celebrate the completion of this week's post!

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Quayside Vignette

Saldanha Bay is beautiful, it floods the senses! Hundreds of fishing vessels and sailing yachts vied for my attention, but I decided not to overlook the small things! For this composition I experimented quite a bit. I chose a large bollard, miles of rope and one of the ever-present seagulls to paint. The canvas is square and was primed with Napels Yellow. Where I usually fall into illustration mode, this time I ignored the intricate ropes and decided not to "count coils" and paint every little detail! And lastly, I have made generous use of black acrylic paint, which I not normally use.

I am often surprised that so few people in our area make time to visit Saldanha Bay. When I asked around, I received an answer: "Saldanha is much too industrial with all those factories"! Now, nobody will blame the reader if he starts thinking Birmingham or Detroit! But in truth there is a small steelworks and a fish processing factory, both very picturesque. As the seagull and I glance over the shimmering bay towards the misty steelworks on the horison, we both think: Now, that is not bad at all, is it?

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The Berg River

The lovely unpolluted Berg River is one of the very important rivers of the Western Cape. It starts in the mountains at Stellenbosch and meets the Atlantic Ocean at Velddrif. Besides being the main water source for many wine farms, it's marshlands are alive with wading birds. Anglers, small fishing boats, yachts and crayfish trawlers are seen on its banks.

During the winter rainy season canoeists from all over the world take part in the Berg River Canoe Marathon. In 2010 the 4-day race will take place from the 14th to the 17th of July. If the day is clear, you may want to join me here at the water's edge in Velddrif? We can have a picnic on the river bank and watch the festive and colourful finish to the race! This rickety ol' jetty may act as a lookout podium to find the front runners. But really, by the looks of it I think we should only allow one spectator on it at a time!

I could not resist painting this tranquil scene. The greenish water near the jetty shows grass almost breaking through the surface, and gave me the opportunity to paint marshy waters as a practice run for the wading birds that I must do for a later post. From here.....I am adding to this post as Sheila asked me about the colours I have used for the water: I start with a lot of Windsor and Newton Titanium White. Then add Ceruleum, Cobalt and Prussian Blue. That is my basic mix for the water throughout. For the marshy colours I used Prussian Blue, Green Oxide and Flesh. The brush strokes are horisontal because of the very calm river. I hope this helps! Do yourselves a favour and also visit Jill Berry's Ambient Landscape. I also want to remind you that Liz Pearson painted the Berg River at Velddrif a few weeks ago! And while we are Internet hopping, here is the aerial lay-out of the river!

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Piket-bo-Berg Tea Garden

It's a long way to drive...and then: A tiny tea garden high in the mountains! The first pass was built in the nineteenth century, using only picks and shovels, around twenty men and some oxen. It has been inproved in the 1950's by Versveld, a local entrepeneur and eccentric. Today we are thirsty and interested in another local "eccentric", the owner of this very distant tea garden!

You reach it after quite a long drive to reach the summit. Then suddenly the bright yellow welcoming sign is there! A red hand painted arrow points upwards into a treed lane. After turning in, motorists are requested to hoot three times! Once you find the five or so tables under the trees, it is best to reach for your newspaper and wait. Suddenly Henny Visser is there, announcing slightly out of breath that her home sits lower down and she was tending the Sweet Potato Cake baking in the oven. With great care and speed she covers ALL the tables, not just one, with checkered cloths. A moment later three little blackboard menus hang suspended between two bluegum trees.

Soon we are enjoying a light lunch, fresh cakes and coffee, chat like old friends with Henny and admire the hills planted with lavender. We also hear of a beloved Afrikaans author, the late George Weideman who had often spent time there in winter, writing by the small inside fireplace. On this lovely summer's day we can only wonder what winter would be like up here! On leaving we are loaded with aloe plants, applesauce and lavender oil from the farm, which are sold in the tiny shop on the premises.

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Into the New Year 2: The Wheatfield and Why it was Successful

I am still not posting but am reared to go full steam ahead after the 15th of January. Some of the more energetic members of the family are climbing Lion's Head at this very moment. I have done it a few times in the past....you do not have a straight climb but you circle around and around...yes 360 degrees of splendid views. Some I my new followers mentioned that they will visit the country during the soccer olympics. Make a note of climbing Lion's Head!

As far as NYR go, I have to learn more technical skills....like I really do not know how to show the blogs that I love to follow or how to insert a link! But to post this morning I have decided to look back to my most successful painting and analyse why it worked. I hope that some of this will be helpful to others too: My depiction of a Wheatfield in the Swartland outstripped all my other paintings in popularity on the blog, on Facebook and according to e-mails I received. Why did it work so well and what will help me in future when planning a work of art?

1. 
   
   Building up some anticipation. Looking back I can see that I was in quite a fix. It was stormy and rained a lot when we expected summer weather. I could not reach my wheatfield. So I kept referring in the social network to this golden field eluding me. I can now see that waiting for it was part of the allure of the painting when I eventually encountered sunny weather and could complete it.


2. 
   
   Yellow Colour Magic: Kandinsky, as he opened the way towards abstract painting, did a very good study of colour. He called light blue a receding colour and yellow an advancing colour. We also have science encyclopedias at home where yellow is named for its "shouting" properties, in other words yellow attracts attention and advances towards the viewer. Also remember Van Gogh's several sunflower paintings where the flowers and the background are in different hues of yellow. There are many colours with great qualities waiting to be used this year.


3. 
   
   Nostalgia: A wheatfield painting comes with the built-in emotions that relates to bread, frugality, survival, goodness and health. I was tearful myself when I received ALL the words of America the Beautiful in my comments! A record comment in length and if that kind lady will send me her address, I will mail her a print of the painting. As for the future, there are many topics which are bathed in tradition!


4. 
   
   Biblical Connotations: Wheat and bread has always played a soft role in religion. In the stories...Ruth and Boas...and in the time-honoured ceremonies. This year I will look for more scenes with universal appeal!


5. 
   
   Art Historical Connotations: Of course a wheatfield stands in the tradition of Constable, Van Gogh (who did several paintings of wheatfields, both happy with sunshine and bales of wheat as well as threatening with reapers and crows), Morisot, Monet and Van Ruysdael. There is also the modern earth art work by Agnes Denys near Manhatten. Look it up, it is a famous contemporary statement! There is a great upsurge in History of Art, I will use my art books and magazines this year!


6. 
   
   Composition: As was realised in the Renaissance curly lines and diagonals bring movement and agitation to a painting but calm horisontals leads to a comfortable state of mind in the spectator. In the market, many buyers of art would prefer this restfulness against a living room wall to encourage "winding down" or in a boardroom to sooth anxiety. The wheatfield I painted, answered this need of a pieceful, soothing piece. In the coming year, I will plan ahead the type of mood I want my compositions to generate.
   

I encourage all art bloggers out there to consider their best pieces of the last year and to ponder for a moment the elements that made the work a success!

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