TSoT = The Story of Trees
Hello to all my friends who have been waiting for me at the “next tree”. Sorry about the delay, but I encountered a few obstacles along the way to the “yellow bouquets”. Like most of us who have full-time jobs, finding time to hone one’s craft or to type a few words to further one’s on-line visibility can be a challenge. Yesterday I made up my mind, I simply had to write and publish this weekend. One of the first challenges I had to overcome this morning was to access my own website. Let this be a lesson to me: Six weeks between blog posts is simply unacceptable. (Better late than never? I think that is a "mature" perspective. They tell us we have to be kind to ourselves.)
This morning as I was working with the Yellow Bouquets and designing a few items with it, I was thinking of a discussion I had with my dad about these yellow bouquets (which are actually bushes or shrubs). I worked in Saudi Arabia for a period of six years and I became very perfume-conscious. If the perfumes in Arabia or the Arabic speaking countries do not reach your awareness through your nose, then who knows, there is definitely a "slight fault" in some faculty, I believe. Let me get back to the yellow bouquets which are depicted here. I asked my father if we should not consider making perfume with it, he replied: “You will definitely get a headache from that oil.” I smiled. When one walks through the veld during the late afternoon in the late winter months the sweet smell of these hardy plants with their tiny yellow flowers makes one believe one is in another place, not the grey Kalahari. I could not imagine it resulting in "headache oil" but I will let that dream rest.
My rendition of these tiny flowers was very “easy”, because I just used blobs of yellow colour to pay homage to them. Now that I look at this A4-size work, eight months later, it looks so “undefined” or “too easy” and I wonder why it took me almost an entire day to build it up? I made a new friend recently; he builds light boxes; he creates large photo-realistic portraits; he remarked upon seeing my small Kalahari watercolour landscapes, “You make watercolour painting seem so easy”. I did not quite understand what he meant, because I work slowly, I don’t hurry up the drying process at all and I try to keep my cool, which means, paint a little, go do something else, paint a little, go do something else … As I have mentioned before, my affinity lies with immediacy and creating expressionistic abstractions. I think I was very brave to create these “methodical” or “self-restraining” watercolour scenes. I must add, it seems selling these is much easier than trying to sell abstractions. It is a pity that what we prefer to do the most, is often not the goose that lays the golden egg.
Let us consider the scene before us. I added the visual reference too, as you have noticed. Let me veer off the road for a moment again. Years ago, when I wanted to learn to play the piano as an adult, an accomplished pianist friend told me not to be nervous when I see a piece of sheet music that looks very complicated, because very often what seems complicated, actually plays easily. Well, to some degree, I can apply this “principle” to my Yellow Bouquets.
When I started with this scene, I remember, those tiny little yellow dots made me doubt my personal ability and the ability of my rather oversized brush. I knew I needed thinner brushes, but I was not near an art shop. As I mentioned earlier, I opted for the “undefined” illusion that simple yellow blobs create and I felt the end result is not to be scoffed at; it could get a pass, according to my standards. I think, I must have found using the strong yellow refreshing when I look at the "muted" collection as a whole. As artists and art teachers we use and teach illusion, but we seldom consider it in our own works, because we don’t have to scrutinize it, I suppose. Vincent van Gogh said, “How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.” https://www.sensationalcolor.com/quotes-about-yellow/
We often cringe when we feel things in our art works are not clear enough or defined enough, but let us not forget the Impressionists and the other masters who showed us that mere suggestion and allusion (and illusion) are often better than hyper-realism. I think I have said far too much today. It is almost time for the sun to go to sleep again.
I just want to remind you: remember, there is art in your heart. As usual, I will add a few links which will take you to my Shopify-store where you can view the Yellow Bouquets in another light. Have a wonderful day and may your yellow sun be bright enough.
Baie dankie, ek dink jy slaag baie goed daarin om wat jy wil se oor te dra. Sal graag een van hulle in my studeerkamer wil laat hang!! Veral die een wat jy pas voltooi het. Hartlike groete. Ds. Frandu