My last blog-post was almost a year ago. A lot has happend in that time with the most significant being that we relocated to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Although I did not post anything, I did not stop painting. I am currently on holiday in De Rust in the South Africa and have almost completed three paintings in the last week. I will present the next couple of posts to bring my readers up to date with my work. For those who are interested in comparing my newest paintings to my older ones, please look at the Gallery.
The first painting that I completed about a month ago started out as an attempt to capture the splendor of the flowering season in Namakwaland. For those who are not familiar with this phenomenon, please look into it. It is considered to be the biggest natural wildflower “exhibition” in the world. It can be seen every spring (September) in the Westcoast area (Namakwaland) of South Africa.
The reference photo is presented blow. My wife absolutely loved this image, but I found it to be a bit dull due to the fact that the photo was taken in overcast conditions. I wanted to increase the colour (the hue) and deepen the shadows a bit to liven up the painting. My first approach was as dismal failure, probably because I tried to paint in the evening under artificial light. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the first attempt.
I actually wanted to throw the original painting away, but in some way it survived the move to Abu Dhabi and I decided to rework it. The finished painting is presented below. I liberally applied my artistic license to deepen the shadows and create some elevated hills on the horizon. I left the windpump somewhat undefined to just present an impression of this structure. After creating the hills in the back of the painting and finishing the colourful foreground the painting did not come together in a coherent way. I therefore added the highlights at the bottom of the hills as a suggestion that there may be a river that runs there. This little bit of suggested detail really pulled the painting together. Overall I really like the highlights in the hills, the middle-ground and on the road in the foreground, but looking at it now I feel that I could still have made the sky a bit whiter. I recently learnt that, making the sky whiter, increases the perceived hue of the colours in the foreground and makes the painting look more lively.
This painting was painting on unstretched canvas taped to a panel with Winsor and Newton’s Winton oil paint. The dimensions is approximately 50cm by 20cm.
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