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A month ago I posted a watercolour painting of Marius, the plumber who lives in Greyton. I wrote then that I would post the oil I was doing of him in "a few days". Well, those few days turned out to be more than 30, but here he is.
In this one I think I captured more of the kindness and gentleness that emanated from him. It all came from the eyes - and how I was tempted to fiddle to get them 'just that bit closer' to what I wanted to convey. I stopped myself doing that, and in retrospect, am quite pleased that I did. Any thoughts on that?
As Cathy Gatland noted in her post, yesterday was a holiday here in South Africa. Now known as Heritage Day, it was originally known as Dingaan's Day in honour of the battle of Blood River when the Boers and the Zulus came to blows and so many thousands died. It has gone through a few changes - from Dingaan's Day to Family Day, Day of the Covenant and finally now, Heritage Day. But more importantly, it is still viewed as a day of peace.
It also heralds the start of the 'silly season' when we get hundreds of visitors from upcountry to our lovely beaches and mountains, where the beach parties are in full swing, sun drenched bikini clad bodies soak up the sun on Clifton Fourth Beach, tanned muscular bodies play beach volleyball, surfers in Muizenberg, hikers on Table Mountain, sometimes losing their way - and of course, everyone eats too much on Christmas Day.
But the summer 'silly season' is also Fire Season. The wind blows, someone throws out a cigarette butt and, whooosh, the mountain starts burning. It's just taken some very brave firefighters five days and nights to bring the fires in Gordon's Bay and the Strand, just outside Cape Town, under control. It wiped out three houses in the process. Out of control fires are also the nightmare of the informal settlements where not just one, but usually up to 20 shack dwellings can be destroyed.
The fires also have their uses. The king protea (which is the national flower of South Africa and the official emblem of our cricket team) and all the other species of protea, need fire to germinate. This also applies to a number of indigenous flowers in the Western Cape. Whilst walking near Greyton, I came across the result of a fire. These burned out proteas were so stark against the new grasses growing nearby.
Another portrait in watercolour. This one I'm quite proud of, as I stopped before I fiddled and overworked it.
I love painting these guys. He was also in Greyton and came to fix some plumbing job whilst I was house and dog sitting. He and his workmate (colloquially known as 'handlanger') sat on the edge of the verandah in the winter sunshine fiddling and fixing whilst I took photos. Marius has the gentlest of faces I've seen for a long time - such a gentle soul, and I tried my best to capture that. I am currently doing an oil of him as well and will post that when it's finally finished - no 'painting a day' in this neck of the woods! Not just yet, anyway.
During my housesitting week in Greyton, I had the privilege to get to know Jemma, a really gentle, kind, elderly Boxer. Her greatest pleasure in life was to go for her daily walk which also did me the world of good. The wonderful thing about staying in a village like Greyton, is that they don't have burglar bars or alarm systems or anything that makes you feel fearful. As a result, Jemma's job of guarding the house was a very easy one. I enjoyed painting this picture of her, and hope you enjoy it too.
