About

When I was little …

Way back, when I was little and my grandfather was larger than life, I played around him while he was painting. He was an acknowledged watercolourist in Cape Town and a painting associate and friend of the famous Thinus de Jongh, who lived just around the corner from him in Rondebosch. In the latter part of his life, he lived with us, and I asked him to teach me how to paint. He said that I must first learn how to draw and that we would start with perspective. For an 11-year-old boy, that was too much to ask as I had other priorities in my life, such as playing, etc. I tried again at the age of 14 at high school but as there were only four of us who wanted to take art, it was decided that there would not be an art class that year and I did metal work instead.

How it all started …

I then joined the South African Air Force and trained as a pilot and the last thing on my mind was art. I however married an artist at the age of 26 and experienced art through her for 23 years until that relationship ended. After 22 years in the SAAF and another twenty or so in business, Dainty my second wife, in 2016 gave me a tube of oil paint and an art teacher’s business card with an enrolment to a three-month art course with Rosemary Hornby Art. Rosemary taught me the basics of drawing and then on my request we started with watercolours, and I decided that it would be the medium that I use – Rosemary is still my art mentor today.

Why watercolours? I think it had a lot to do with the fact that it was my grandfather’s favourite medium, but I enjoyed the challenge that it gave me and due to the stage in my life, I decided that there is not enough time left to do more than one. So far, I have not been disappointed.

Enjoy this chapter of my life with me.

My Space …

I love my workspace, it is a studio with a view, one for all seasons, and it all started on the dining room table. I have wonderful painting partners who entertain me continuously and who bring joy into my life. I am surrounded by a lovely garden, which is Dainty’s canvas, so beautiful, so green and so colourful. And, when we have sundowners, or when I paint, we have the most beautiful view with the most beautiful sunsets over the Atlantic.

Enough said, let the following pictures speak for me …