William Horwood wrote a heart-rending book  ’Callanish’, about eagles in a zoo and a keeper who had survived Sobibor.  The eagles long to be free.  They stare up at the unreachable sky with longing and hope.  But one old eagle cautions them to be aware of how huge and frightening the sky will be if they ever get out.  One eagle does escape by attacking the keeper and slipping past, out of the cage.  But he soon returns and confirms how scary it was.  That is kind of how I felt.

Well now I am ready to spread my wings.  My site is pretty well set up though there is more work to be done.

Please come and visit and drop me a note.  I have run the two sites in parallel for a couple of days.   Tonight I posted the first entry for that site only, another watercolour of the Family at The Pipe.

So – see you that side…

Here is a painting I did in the Little Karoo, taking a different route home from George.

This is painted on a half sheet of Arches Cold Pressed (560 x 380mm).

I would like to do it again, with a little more aerial perspective, softening the background hills.  But there it is.

Sunday morning dawned freezing and wet in Ebb and Flow.  I prepared everything in my tent, rushed around in the rain to get it packed then struck  the tent and dumped in the back of the bakkie (a pick-up).  After a shower I hopped in and drove out.  The main route to Cape Town was very busy with people returning from school holidays, extended to allow for the Soccer World Cup event.  I thought this would be too dangerous in the rain so headed up over the Outeniqua pass towards Oudtshoorn.  There was sleet falling in big blobs as I went over the pass and the higher peaks were covered in snow.  It was very beautiful.   Oudtshoorn was the center for the Ostrich industry a couple of centuries ago, where massive fortunes were made.  The town has some of the most magnificent homes.

Anyway I did not tarry and headed on Route 62, through the Little Karoo.  On the way through Ladismith I took a diversion to drop in friends of mine who runs a guest farm on the border of the Anysberg, halfway between Ladismith and Montague, Urban Retreat.   Clever name hey?  Urban is Jane’s husband.  It was very beautiful and I had time for a quick painting before hitting the dirt road to Montague and home.

I have also posted this on my website.

I arranged to meet my good friends Ted and Sue at the best Pizza place in the Southern Cape (yep – Pomodoro – man, that quattro stagioni…). However let me not digress…  I had a few minutes before my meeting so I went back up the trail and painted a smaller painting of the river, as the Knysna Loeries swooped back over the river to nest.  They were so gracious and welcoming the last few trips that I wanted to give them a painting.  I will post a photo of the painting when I get an update.

That evening in Wilderness someone broke into my car and stole my camera and rucsac with all my hiking gear, including my MSR stove and precious pots from my old trangier stove.  What a blow!  What an attack on my dream!

This posting may also be read on my website.

This has also been posted on my website as part of a parallel run.

Anyway…

I left the water when it started getting to busy with people coming from the office.  And I set up on the beach.  For some reason I wasted a lot of time drawing and fiddling with gear before I got down to it.  But with the time in hand it was not a problem and I had time to chat with passers by.  Eventually I got going and decided to put in two figures.  One chap marched past and I was able to capture something of his walk.  Later two girls walked past arm in arm and I gave my chap a companion.  It was all so pleasant.  A friendly local couple agreed to take some photos of me painting, for my website.  Here is one:

Sweet kid came out of the water and spent a long time watching my painting.

And here is the painting:

I hung around and chatted and put in some finishing touches till it was almost dark before packing up.

Here is a photo of the view looking the other way just before I left:

that is the fence over the pipe with Table Mountain in the background.

And then it was to work.

I had been reading Alvaro C who says we need to focus on warms and cools and paint with passion – mmmm – I can do that.  I wanted to paint the far end of the field with a bluish tint to create some space.  However when I looked in the afternoon sun it was bright, sparkling yellowy green – with a very hard line between the grass and the dark trees.

But

As I packed to go I saw the shadows lengthened for 30 seconds and then the sun dissapeared behind the mountain.  Anyway based on that info I softened the edge.

Also

Just as I was loading my brush for the first wash a chap came wandering up the farm road with two little kids.  I said hi and he took an interest in the painting and asked if he could watch a while.  Which is also OK.  He said he was on his way to the taxi-rank in Durbanville town to catch a minibus to Fissantekraal (which I suppose is like Pheasant Paddock – (o:) .  Then as I put brush to paper he asked if I could give then all a lift.  I said OK but said the painting would take a while.

So off we went.  Stephen gave a running commentary on how amazing he thought the painting process was, especially mixing the colours.   I asked him what he did and he said he was a carpenter.  Well… I said I can’t cut two pieces of wood the same length so I admire anyone who can.  I left out that I usually end up throwing something when I do woodwork projects.

This Stephen and his two boys, Keach and Lynch.

It was a nice warm afternoon and they played around the area.  But as the sun went down I had to pack up as I felt the chill and saw they were not particularly warmly dressed.

Here is the painting, I may have to take another photo tomorrow in natural light:

This is also on a half-sheet of Arches 300gm (149lb -I think) 560 x 380mm.

We packed up and I drove the guys to the taxi.  It was very far for the kids man.

This is on a half sheet of Arches 300gm rough – 560x380mm (22.5×30 inches)

Definitely a place to visit again if possible.

When my meeting was over I went back to the Pipe to complete what I had started.  I put on my wet wetsuit (eeeeee) and trotted down through the mist.  The sea had turned big sullen and a little brutal (for me anyway).   I had a couple of waves but after an hour or so I saw something dark in the water which I thought was a seal and decided that was enough.  As I was getting dressed some guys came out saying they had seen a 2m long shark.   mmm – anyway.

I had my stuff and went down to the shoreline and set up.  The mist cleared around the mountains but it was still so damp that the paper got this big conkle while I was still fiddling with my brushes and stuff.   I tried to keep each part of the painting separate with some success.  However I wanted to add some darks to the mountains – but (hold your nose and go “eeeeee” – ja that sound) it was not to be .   The paper would just not dry enough – so I did what I could.

I had seen someone walking down the beach when I came up from surfing and I added them to the painting.  And while I was painting I met a whole lot of friendly people – which is always fun.

It was almost dark when I packed up and the moon was up.  What a beautiful evening.

The painting is on a half size Arches 300gm cold pressed (560 x 380mm) – what do you think?

Eventually I had leave the painting half done because the paper would not dry and I had to get back.  This is how it looked when I left:

and this afternoon it looks like this:

On reflection I reckon I would like to have achieved something like this with the first wash.  Bold!  I need to go more bold with those first washes.

And I want to do something about how I carry stuff.  I carried these ungainly boards and sheets of paper with my art box slipping off my shoulder.  mmmf – time to get organised.

I plan to complete this painting here in the studio as I am not sure when I will get out there again.