The West Coast at Springtime

I have been working on 10 paintings for an exhibition and finished the last one yesterday! They are all West Coast themes and meant for an invited show of 63 artists each doing 10 paintings of the popular 8 x 8 size. "A SLICE of LIFE "Exhibition will show all 630 paintings on one gallery wall!

Before I start blogging and chatting about these completed works, I would love to show my favourite photos of the coastal flower displays not far from my home during Springtime.

Gardening on the West Coast

In planning a West Coast garden, I decided to take my cue from the surrounding veld. There are no trees in the pristine fynbos, so I did not plant any. This is not a coast of waving palm trees and huge tall plants, and I often see people planting them because they love trees/want shade/want birds/need something tall as a focal point, or for whatever reason. But surely one would then attract the wrong sort of birds, because our Cape Robins, Francolins and Black Oystercatchers sleep on the ground or in low vegetation.

Another rule would be to have no flowers that will start spreading into the fynbos. Nasturtiums are a no-no! I plant so that there is always a great display of colour. This is a long narrow garden and I want colour as far as the eye can see. By not trimming and allowing plants to grow together there are never any weeds as there is no room for them. Because of harsh rainless summers you need plants that do not need a lot of water. We are planning to make some "green" plans this year to water the patch of lawn.

In the photos you will notice that I allow the wild pelargoniums, sorrel, watsonias, Livingstone daisies (bokbaai vygies), all types of aloes and ragwort to grow where they want to. I make no division between wild and cultivated plants.

My garden has been photographed by many people who can see it over the walls, and are thrilled by all the colour! This is a garden where I spend about 4 days working in a year, while the buffalo grass grows vertical and needs trimming about every third week only.

Rocky Outcrops at Kabeljoubank

We have an unpredictable spring season on the West Coast, today was sunny but cold. On such days I do not drive the 30km to Darling, but find something to paint close to home. Kabeljoubank offered this flower-scattered scene which is not far from where I painted the snoek guy and the old gate on previous occasions. I love to take my visitors here as it is a small distance from my home. Every boy and his dog will always climb the outcrop on the left where you can see the footpath going up.

After the rain the sea will hit these rocks with such force that you can see the massive surge of spray over the top. It did not bode well for passing ships in days of old. This is where The British Peer met its end in 1896. We still pick up rounded red pebbles which are really wellworn pieces of the bricks which were used as ballast on the ship.

In the distance in my painting is the little campsite of Ganzekraal, with a 350yr old name. Here on the fence the snoek are often hanging in their hundreds to dry out. There are wild ostriches living here and the trick is to photograph them when they are standing with Table Mountain in the background. Well, maybe I have done that far too often!