"Suikerbossie wil jou he"

The words of the old folk song from childhood keep returning. In English, it means, "Sugarbush, I want you." Sugarbush is a name for the extraordinary flower unique to South Africa, the protea. I was particularly fascinated by the eponymously named pincushion variety, one of hundreds of varieties which I observed and documented on my walks in the mountains behind my village. In those days it was unremarkable for an eight or nine year old girl to wander for hours by herself over koppies and kloofs, where no other soul would be found. Luckily I never encountered any leopards, rumored to roam those hills, although many snakes crossed my path, fat lazy adders and scary cobras, and spiders as big as your hand (or so it seemed to me).

Now, some fifty years later, I go back to the imagery of proteas to create a painting in reds, pinks, mauves, purples and greens, as well as the ever present blues of sea and sky.

African Dreams

Thanks to supportive and loving remarks from my friend Michelle, and my daughter Nina, I have embarked on a series of paintings that are drawn from memories of my childhood in South Africa.

Nina reminded me about plumbago, an ordinary and commonplace flower found in hedgerows and scrub; I used to love the lightish mauve-periwinkle blue of its little blossoms, clustered around a stem, so small and modest in themselves, but so gorgeous in profusion on the vine. The name too, so lush, 3 syllables that sound grand. I found it here at a nursery in North Carolina and brought it home with triumphant excitement. Alas, the poor thing withered and died quickly under our fierce summer sun. Most people don't realize that the Cape climate is Mediterranean, mild and gentle, similar to Northern California, and not as harsh and unforgiving as the American South can be. However, the two plumbago paintings have thrived and are very blue and touched with gold.

Michelle and her husband Stan have encouraged me to slosh on the paint, using the modern miracle of extender, and so I created a series of collage/mixed media pieces with red blobs that remind me of the flame trees that I saw in the Lowveld. As a Capie, the lushness of the Lowveld was a revelation, and the flame trees, jacaranda, frangipani and bougainvillea were an eye opener.

Funny how each painting is agony to begin; when one is in full flight, it seems quite easy, but once the energy flags the job of moving forward seems overwhelmingly challenging. I suppose that this is why many artists work on multiple projects simultaneously. Each project seems to have an inexorable rythm of it's own.