Viv King Art

Selling paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:45:43 PST

I was lucky enough to sell a painting at the South African Society of Artists' exhibition at Kirstenbosch in October.
I recently had a great weekend at a friend's farm in the Karoo. The peace and tranquility of the area was inspiring. It was very early spring and the fields were still in Winter mode, so the harvested ground was a beautiful, rich golden orange colour. The folded quality of the mountains in that area are amazing. The farm is just to the north of Seweweeks Poort, a fantastic pass with incredible rock formations. No painting could do those rocks justice so I didn't attempt to paint them, but this view seemed to cry "paint me!" so I did.
Here it is.

No posts for 6 months!

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:55:04 PDT

What can I say. I haven't posted anything for 6 months. Is this a tragedy? NO! Not if I have spent every waking moment and sometimes sleeping and dreaming moments, too, in my studio learning the art of Reverse Painting on Perspex.

I learnt this fascinating and addictive medium through a great guy, teacher and artist, Paul Birchall. I have spent the last 6 months practising this technique with varying degreess of success.

Because I have a passion for trees, I have worked mostly with photographs I have taken in and around my neighbourhood of trees in winter mode. I prefer the raw and naked branches, spiked against a winter sky. Unfortunately, photographs of these paintings don't do the real thing justice. Photographs don't show the amazing and subtle effects created by the odd smattering of gold leaf, and special translucent paints like "Interference" paints which are basically acrylic paints with a pearlescent glow.

Check out some more examples of this fascinating technique!

My hubcap arrrived!

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:39:29 PDT

my contribution to Landfill Art, a project to turn hubcaps into works of art arrived in Pennsylvania and is on the website.on page 8.

African dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:00:11 PST

"Skeletons in the cave" and "old bones"

"Thinking of the future","Looking ahead", and "Sangoma in training"

"My past is behind me"(oil/paper; 900x600mm)

Last year I did not blog a lot, due to the fact that I was concentrating on my painting and had little time for anything else. I spent the year trying to find a theme that I could really get my teeth into. I usually have trouble concentrating on a particular theme for various reasons. I suspect that as a child I may have suffered a little from Attention Deficit Disorder which was unknown in those days!

From March to October I attended a weekly workshop with a group of artists painting from life. At the end of the year I bundled up all my sketches and drawings from these sessions and forgot about them. Last week I unrolled them again and examined them for any signs of a theme. It is quite difficult to find a theme in your own work, as you tend to be rather too subjective about it, but as I examined these paintings I found that there was an inkling of something that linked them together as a body of work. The paintings that I show here are what I consider to be the best of the bunch.
South Africa is experiencing huge changes politically at present. With a general election looming, times are interesting. The old "Struggle Politics" mentality of the post-Apartheid days seems to be dying and new orders and parties are springing up almost daily. Cope is the main player, though I have a sneaking suspicion this is a red herring created by Mbeki to make South Africa look like a thriving democracy. I suspect that the ANC and COPE will reunite after the election! I hope I am wrong but somehow something does not seem above board with daily defections to and fro on both sides.

Artistically I cannot help but be influenced and affected by what is happening around me and I find that my work during the last year seems to reflect these imminent changes. I feel that African women are going to play a more prominent role in S. African politics in the future and this body of work seems to suggest that theme.

How to create your Art website

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:53:48 PST

Recently I came across this advice for artists about how to create the perfect artist's website.

All is not what it seems.

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:52:38 PST

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance”— Aristotle.

Pondering the above quote brings to mind several issues confronting art-making. As a painter who practises painting daily now I am frequently aware of the time I spend alone in my studio grappling with various issues. Whether these are simple painterly decisions regarding choices of colour or line or whatever thoughts and ideas are occupying my mind during the process.

I continually ask the question: "What does this mean?" I spend a lot of time sitting at a canvas daubing or sometimes throwing paint at it. I am not helping anyone by doing this. I am not saving the world, or actively involved in helping others. I am not serving the world, making it a better place. Who cares that the issues that I think about while I paint are often of a fairly deep and complex nature - philosophical issues, or political issues.
No-one knows that while I paint I may be wondering what South Africa will be like under the Presidency of Jacob Zuma or how much more devastation will happen in Zimbabwe before life is safe and equal for all who live there.
No- there are no witnesses to these thoughts. I am alone in that space. No-one except the cat is observing the minute-by-minute decisions I am making, or sees me abandoning the canvas to make a cup of tea, or water the garden, or feed the dog, or answer the phone. No-one hears the strains of Beethoven's violin romances or Cold Play or the sudden quick memory of a taste, or a sound or an event that assails my mind at odd moments, or exclamations of delight that accompany a stroke well-executed, or the sudden joy when a colour glides on juicily or a hitherto unfocused image suddenly leaps into focus. No-one sees the moment when a carefully applied tiny daub of paint suddenly makes the object I am painting spring into life and make sense proportionally.

None of this is witnessed or is of much consequence.

What is witnessed is the final result. The moment when the brush is finally laid down after the signature is scrawled somewhere unobtrusive. What is seen is the landscape or piece of fruit or portrait, daub or scribble.

How many layers of paint are between the viewer and the artist? When you stand in front of the canvas, are you aware of how many hours are invested in those strands of woven cotton? How many millions of millilitres of cadmium red are caked together, binding the threads together. How many missed strokes, too-thick, and then scraped-off, prussian blue. If you were able to peel back the layers second by second and see the thing unravelling before you, would you still "ooh" and "aah" and exclaim "Wow, that is fantastic" - or would you grow quieter and quieter as the layers unravelled before your eyes and find yourself thinking- this is just a mess, this is all an accident, this is all rubbish. Or, you ask yourself "Is this all that painting is- making messes and then correcting them? Indeed, the same question could be asked about Life itself!
Is painting, or Art-making, just about creating problems to solve? It is a continuing questioning and questing process. And the sometimes awful truth of it is that those questions you are asking may never be anwered. For me, regardless of whether the final work is never seen by anyone, the important thing is to go on asking them.

Aristotle's view, therefore, that it is the inward significance of things that is represented, is a fundamental one to consider when viewing the final painting. When looking at a painting one should be asking questions about it. In a cursory or casual first-glance observation, you will see what you want to see, you will learn what you want to learn. It is however when you glimpse in it what you need to see, that it becomes something more. What you need to see, will begin to show itself to you, perhaps - may even go some way to answering some questions you may be asking of yourself. The painting may even give you a glimpse into a personal truth, a way forward out of a personal crisis, or even a better understanding of a greater universal truth that is out there, somewhere, for you to discover.

My Profile

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:51:29 PST

Invitation to join a Metal Art Initiative

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:55:43 PST

I have just received an invitation from a group of Artists who are part of an initiative to create art from landfill metals.
It seems to be an exciting project and has inspired me to depart from my usual oil/canvas medium. This invitation has come at an opportune moment for me as I am feeling very uninspired at the moment. I have been feeling rather despondent lately, knowing and feeling sure that I will be never much more than a "Sunday/hobby Painter".
Oh well, such is life and so when this email arrived out of the blue inviting me to join a world-wide project I was thrilled.
The principle of creating art out of found objects/landfill/refuse has always been close to my heart. Plenty of township artists do amazing work here with wire and sell their stunning creations at traffic intersections and in tourist shops. Here is an awesome example of a Harley-Davidson wire sculpture.
Knowing how hard it is to work with wire I so admire the astonishing expertise and craftmanship, let alone solid, hand-grinding graft that must have gone into achieving the finished product.
So, though I feel unqualified to be invited to be included in this enterprise I would like to know where I can get any old used metal hubcaps, if not for myself, for these wire artists who could do something wonderful with it. I would like to get in touch through email preferrably with any metal artists who may be interested in finding out more about this project with a chance of getting some exposure. What I will do is then forward their details to the Project Manager of this initiative.
Please contact me at vk@imaginet.co.za if you can help!

Where are the green areas

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:19:36 PST

In my town there is a common. It is a large green area which has a unique biodiversity. Around it are grouped houses of the suburbs. If you stand in the middle of this green space you hardly hear the traffic even though it roars around all sides of the green square.
The need for low-cost housing in my area is a reality. How long will this green square last before it is swamped by another colour, another shape.
My latest group of paintings explore this space as if from a point above the earth. Will this space stay sacredly green or will the encroachments that threaten it win the battle?
I played with this idea and these are the results.

I sold a Painting!

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:42:14 PDT

What a feeling!
I sold a painting at the S.A.S.A annual exhibition opening last Saturday. The strangest thing was that I had fallen in love with an oil called "Three men in Love" I had seen at the selection day, but it was a little beyond my budget. I thought about it for about 3 weeks and at the end of that period it was still haunting me.
At the hanging day I saw it again and thought I must have it. Before I could stop myself I went and put a red sticker on it.
The next day at the opening I was about to go and pay for it when I saw someone walking towards the pay desk with what looked like my painting of Chart Farm under their arm! To my delighted surprise I had a buyer! My painting sold for R5000 and the one I bought was R4000 so I even made a small profit.
What a great day!
This is my painting and I will post a pic of the one I bought when I bring it home at the end of the exhibition which is tomorrow.

My Art influences

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:01:40 PDT

I once had an art teacher who gave me a clear understanding of the nature of derivation in Art. She advised us to trace and acknowledge our "Influences" - ie. those artists whose work had had a powerful and influential effect on our work.
Let's face it - all art is derivative in some way or another. We are all essentially
"copyists" - whether it be of nature or whether it be of some or other artist, movement or period. Nothing is truly original these days. It has all been done before, by someone greater. Nevertheless we strive to be original within the confines of our own little worlds and limitations and I am keenly aware of those at the moment!
One thing I am sure about is that my work, flawed as it is in many respects, is entirely my own, in the sense that it has been painted entirely by me - no other artist or teacher has had a hand in it.
However there have been artists throughout History that have had a profound effect on my work. Early in my career I slavishly copied the works of Degas, Velasquez and Renoir. I longed to achieve the luscious tones of Renoir, the powerful lines of Velasquez and the multi-layered transparency of Degas. When I was a child I had a print in my room of Degas' ballet dancers. Even though I was only about 5 years old, that print had a profound effect on my young mind, as did his horse paintings. I loved to draw dancers "en pointe" and horses. Sadly none of these drawings survived but I do remember doing countless studies and little portraits and profiles of my heroes of the time or a fantasy boyfriend!
Other artists who have had a profound effect have been Rembrandt, van Gogh, Monet, Lowry, Edward Hopper, Klimt, Hundertwasser, Georgia O'Keefe. There have been many others but I return to these over and over for inspiration. My latest passions are Botero and Sir Stanley Spenser.
So far I can see no real link between any of these painters and why I should choose them over others, but perhaps in time it will become clearer. For the moment I can only wish I could find my true "fach" or "voice". I am so unsure of myself and my techniques that I end up frustrated by my efforts. I seem to swing from chocolate box to complete abstract with nothing in between.
The two paintings on the right of this page are indicative of my state of mind. The top one I called "Fish out of water" - this sums it up perfectly. My influences in this case were the style of O'Keefe and the World book encyclopaedia for the "Devilfish" in the water and the cross-section of a fish skeleton! The main theme of the painting is isolation, big fish in a small pond, being a white person in a black world .. Yes, well......use your own imagination!
The picture beneath it was also influenced by Georgia O'Keefe. It was an old painting that wasn't going anywhere and then I started using a new brush and all hell broke loose- no really it felt as if the brush had its own agenda and was moving by itself. All I did was obey its orders! If this sounds crazy, well, what can I say. Briefly I felt as if I was in a Harry Potter movie and it felt GOOOOOOOOD!!!!
Please leave a comment. I would love to know what you think.

Affiliate marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:23:01 PDT

It took me a while to understand what Affiliate marketing is all about and I must admit I am still not sure how it works. Sceptics say, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Although I am a bit of a sceptic, I also am naive enough to think that so many people claim that this type of marketing works for them, so I am giving it a try myself.
Being in the Art business, I decided to try making an affiliate site with Allposters.com which offers great ideas for Affiliates. From what I can work out, they give you the html for their store and links to all their products. You simply copy this html into your page and voila, you have your own store. Your affiliate ID is attached to the code and every time a sale is made from any of these products, it is traced back to your webpage ID and you are credited with a percentage. My question is of course, if there are millions of affiliates, how are these percentages worked out? Well, I can't get my head around that one and I don't really care. I just like the concept so I am willing to give it a try.
So if anyone out there is kind enough to buy a poster from my site, I would be grateful if you would let me know so that I can trace back the sale to see if it works! If it does, hallelujah we can all be rich. No, really, there is no scepticism there....?
I support the fundamental prinicple behind affiliate marketing. It really is a good thing if it is honestly applied. The idea that everybody benefits from a poster sale is a great one - I mean I would be thrilled to know that if every time I sold a print, someone else was benefitting as well especially in the present depressing times that we find ourselves in the world!

My Poster store

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:58:26 PDT

Buy Posters at AllPosters.com

Brown Period

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:18:46 PDT

Maybe its the weather. Maybe its Menopause or maybe its the Zimbabwe situation which grows ever more insane by the day. Here we are on the eve of the farcical election where Mugabe has already declared himself the winner, having not conceded defeat in the earlier election held in March this year.
While I paint, I listen to Cape Talk radio and am quite gobsmacked by the increasingly gloomy scenario playing out on our Northern border. Not surprisingly, I seem to be drawn to the more sombre colours in my collection - Van Dyk Brown, Brown Madder Alizarin, and the Umbers. Most of my paintings presently use these in various measures. I am still battling with the "Door" series. I have started a number of paintings on this theme but none of them are really coming alive and I end up frustrated with my efforts.
I have other work on the go as well - a couple of table mountain and waterfront studies which I am attempting in a semi-realistic style. I find it relaxing to do - like paint-by-numbers. It doesn't involve too much thought or imagination like the door series which is much more challenging. Also on the go is a series of paintings of trees - or more likely the intricate pattern of branches intertwined from a close-up vantage. I took a lot of photos of trees from beneath. Fascinating.

I have always loved trees from the days I spent in Hogsback as a child. In fact I spent a fair amount of time climbing in a huge old Wild Fig tree in our back yard as well as Pine trees. I particularly loved the Oak trees of the Oak Forest in Hogsback (which has now been eradicated due to its "alien" status!)Along the edge of our property was a row of pine trees which grew to a height of about 8 metres before they were cut down. The mist weaving in between the branches was a source of great mystery and atmosphere to me, as were their snow-laden branches in winter and the fresh fragrant pungency of the needles in Spring and Summer.
Now I am fully invested in recapturing that rapture in my paintings! I hope I can produce a fair body of these. One or two is no use really - I would like to do at least 4- one for each season, perhaps. We'll see.

Need more visitors to your website? Be on 700 000 Search Engines and Directory listings Worldwide Click Here

Still Life

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:38:02 PDT

There is a wave of Xenophobia sweeping our city at the moment. I listen to the radio a lot while I work and many people phone in with their solutions, ideas and thoughts on the issue. It seems that the general feeling out there is that it is mainly caused by youths without jobs and a certain criminal element.
As an artist working within this framework I am influenced to a fair extent by what is going on around me. It is almost like I have a set of antennae that is attuned to the vibes around the city. As I am often working in a state of conscious "unconsciousness" I am not always in control of the process or the final result of the painting.
The theme that I am currently working on is "Doors". I am doing a series of paintings about doors, exploring the concept and meaning of doors. I was working on a painting which was taking a long time to reveal itself to me. A few months ago I had covered the surface with a layer of black paint formed from a mix of alizarin crimson and aquamarine blue (prussian blue gives a blacker mix). A few weeks ago I picked up this painting again and tried to make sense of it. I saw a black doorway in the right half of the painting. I painted an archway above it.
I found myself painting a step at the bottom of the archway. Suddenly the brush almost began moving by itself and a pink prone figure appeared on the step. I resisted the urge to develop the figure or "prettify" it even though it looked unfinished. Then I wrote the words, "still life" on the painting. This surprised me as I had always frowned upon script used in paintings. But I realised when I stepped back from the painting that it said something quite powerful about the society in which I find myself.
The pink figure could be symbolic of the white people living in South Africa. I would like to see this figure as "still having life" within this increasingly hostile environment. Like in my painting, white people (pink people)are lying down here at the moment - afraid to speak out in fear of being called "racist". Though we may look dead, there is still life in us!

As an ageing person I also like to think of the painting as speaking to this process ie. "There is still life in the old dog yet!" The vast archway behind the figure is an open door. We as a culture need to take the step through the doorway into acceptance of each other as unique and precious human beings. We need to walk through the archway into a new life together, building a new nation. We as ageing people also need to take the step of self-acceptance, knowing that we still have life, still have dreams and are still useful members of the society, with much to offer.

Table mountain and the Cape Town Waterfront.

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:51:52 PDT

These are all the Waterfront Paintings I have painted this year so far.
I worked much more carefully than I usually do, being careful to get the window frames properly aligned and not smudging the building outlines! This is a new way of working for me as I am usually quite loose.
These paintings attempt to capture the Waterfront in its various moods, from dawn to dusk. In the early morning, the light falls on the mountain and the colours in the water are amazing. I used alizarin crimson in a wash to get a sort of transparent feel. I liked the effect on the right hand building which is a deeper orangey tone than in daylight. I exagerated this a little to emphasise the romantic feel of the setting!
In the evening the sun sets behind the mountain casting a sort of orangey glow on everything.
In the daylight the colours are bright and uncompromising and the sea looks dark greeish blue. I painted people walking on the wharfside. Being a hotspot for tourists I felt I needed to get a feeling of the crowds and people lunching in the many cafes that line the waterfront.

The Nude in Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:03:29 PDT

For the past few weeks I have been going to a workshop on the "Nude in Perspective".
This week our task was to use white conte pastel or chalk on a black or dark piece of paper. I used pastels a few years ago and didn't like them much. They left my hands feeling all dry and chalky and I went through a lot of hand cream. So I wasn't really looking forward to the class.
Tanya, the model was lying down on a white sheet facing me with her abundant red hair tumbling over her right arm and her leg crooked beneath her. It was an interesting pose.
I took a deep breath, banished all negative thoughts and studied her intently for about 15 minutes before I began to mark out the paper, using a paintbrush to get a perspective. The angle of the foot presented a challenge, but I kept calm and stayed in the moment.

Eventually I began, working much slower than I usually do, deliberately stroking the chalk lightly over the surface, getting used to the old familiar scratchy feeling of chalk on paper. I began to relax and enjoy the sensation, taking pleasure in the form and medium, the play of light on the sensuous curve of the navel and the nice straight arm providing the composition with structure. Tanya was lying on a sheet which was the highest key colour. Using only white, I was careful to leave the dark areas on her body completely black, with just a few tiny dots of conte sprinkled around to suggest the form. The high key areas were on her back and shoulder, a little on the curve of her calf and along her arm and I used quite a heavy hand here to emphasise the light areas. I was hardly aware of time passing and it felt like a meditation as I kept my mind clear and concentrated.
We had a short break for tea and then I had just half an hour to finish off.
When I finally stepped back I was quite pleased with what I saw on the paper. Here she is - Tanya in white on black.

Painting for mother's day

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:33:12 PDT

It's Mother's day today in my country. I have been working in my studio listening to Joni Mitchell singing "Clouds" from one of her more recent recordings. Her voice is mellow, smoky, plaintive, a little melancholy. What a great song and a fitting tribute to mothers, perhaps. At least that is what I feel today - a lot older but not much wiser. The line, "I really don't know life at all" rings true. It is a puzzle, a mystery.
My painting began as a collage last week in a workshop- I sprinkled beauganvilla blossoms over a board and glued them on over embossed toilet paper, lavender sprigs and some magazine images of flowers.
During class I painted a nude over the collage but I wasn't happy with it and took it home to work on it in my studio. I threw some paint around and tried a wash of walnut wood-stain. I began to get excited at this point because it was looking more "together" and unified, although I still couldn't find any images. I left it for a day or so and then looked again.
Now I could see some patterns emerging - a miniature landscape in the foreground and the figure of a woman. Then a strange mask-like face appeared and I worked with these for a while, drawing into the paint with a sharp ink pen. Then I uploaded it onto my computer and photoshopped it for a while. This is the result - a work in progress. What do you think?

Painting the blues away

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:11:27 PDT

A lot of famous painters in the past have been through a "blue" period. Picasso is the most well-known example. here is perhaps his most famous Blue Nude of that period.

A few years ago I went through a similar period, although I did not realise it at the time until I called in an old teacher of mine to come and do a review of my work. He said, "Try and get away from blue for a while."

It has been a while now since I used Prussian Blue in a painting. At the time I used it, I enjoyed the silkiness of the paint and how a little truly went a long way. Lately, though I appreciate how the colour bleeds into the surrounds and can be annoying to work with, especially when working "Wet-in-wet".
In fact it is a bad colour from this point of view. If you want to put yellow alongside it you will get a hideous green line between the 2 which stubbornly refuses to go away. Many times I have had to wipe the Prussian blue off with turps and only add it after the other colours.

What I have found a good way of working with this colour though is using it as a "ground" colour - priming the canvas with a half-half mix of Prussian blue and alizarin crimson give s nice rich, transparent black which makes all colours added on top of this glow really well. It also obviates the need to use thick paint, and if you are like me, feeling a little stretched on the budget, this can help save paint.

I am currently entering a "Brown Period".

Alexa's top 10 Art Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:33:12 PDT

I don't get it.

This is the number 1 most popular ranking Art blog site on Alexa. The top picture shows a guy jumping off a building. You have to scroll down quite far before you see anything resembling art -on the way down you trip over a few "Russian beauties". Beneath them are some rusty old ships buried in ice, before you stop over in a castle. Only after your mouse begins to squeak with scroll-fatigue do you get to the real thing - in this case some tooth-pick sculpture and art made out of nails. This is more like it - some real creativity!

The sites ranked in 2nd, 3rd and 4th place were about Home decoration, Papercrafts and "Open Culture". No paintings.

Fifth place goes to Mr Squiggle- call me square or whatever....what do you think?

A film-production blog ranks sixth. Ok this makes a bit more sense to me - though still not exactly Fine Art, but then, I don't much like "Anime" either, so that tells you what my taste is I guess.

At number 7 is Gen Art Pulse which, in my opinion, stretches the concept of Art somewhat. More of a travel blog. Don't go here if you want to see paintings. Do go here if you want to read about adolescents travelling in the country.....say no more.

Number 8 goes to Head Butler, a site about everything but paintings or Art - movies, books and cooking. OK - Cooking is an Art form, but can reading be called Art - not sure...and still no paintings. I am growing despondent....

HAH!! AT LAST - SOME REAL PAINTINGS!!. Just when I thought it was time to revisit my notions of Art and check in to either Rehab or an Institution specialising in the Art of Undoing Outdated Perceptions I finally hit paydirt. Blog no. 9 opens with beautiful portrait gracing centrestage, reminiscent of Scarlette Johannssen in the Girl with the Pearl Earring. HAH, I thought- a painting at last.
Then on closer observation, I realised this was a photograph, not a painting. OK, call me picky again, but the label for this post said "Painting/Photograph." Not a single painting on this link.

So there you have it. The top 10 Art blogs on Alexa. Not one painting blog amongst them. Oh well, guess I'll have a good excuse for not producing a painting for the up-coming SASA exhibiton. I'll just tell them I'm going to send them a Photograph, watch a movie, or better still, take a drive in the country with my adolescent son - much more Arty and guaranteed to get me a place in the Alexa Top 10 art weblogs...sigh....

SASA EXHIBITION JUNE 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:13:32 PDT

The South African Society of Artists will be holding the annual member's exhibition from the 6htJune - 14th June in the Sanlam Hall at Kirstenbosch

Currently there are over 400 members in this Society, from all over the Cape Peninsula. Work will be in a wide variety of subjects, formats and styles to suit all tastes. Prices of these works are very competitive.

Now is your chance to pick up a piece of local Cape Art at affordable prices.
This is the painting I will be submitting. It is a 400 x 300 oil/canvas painting of the Cape Town waterfront at Dusk.

Some of my Paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:10:18 PDT

Another great Cape Town artist!

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:40:14 PDT

I had the privilege of spending a weekend in the company ofAndrew Putter, a Cape Town artist and art teacher. Andrew impressed me not only because he is a remarkable artist, but because of his warmth and integrity as a teacher. I watched as he counselled and advised a young teenage girl who was on the cusp of life as a young artist. His empathic skills were notable as he listened with all attention to her dreams and aspirations, giving her all his attention.

Andrew's recent video-installation Secretly I will love you more was acclaimed by almost everyone as absolutely the best piece on Spier Contemporary 2007, the new national survey biennial which debuted on the Spier Wine Estate last December. Putter was one of the seven winners.

In this work Putter revisits the relationship between Maria Della Quellerie, wife of Jan van Riebeeck, first Dutch commander of the Cape of Good Hope, and Krotoa, daughter of one of the 'Hottentot' chiefs at the Cape. The video installation portrays the affectionate relationship between the two women, challenging the sometimes skewed, stereotypical assessments of Colonial rulers attitudes towards "slaves" which are fed to South African children in today's History books.

This is Andrew's beautiful study in charcoal on paper entitled Fragipane:Rose - one of his older works from 1988

Seascapes slide show

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:40:14 PDT

The Butcher Boys - Jane Alexander

noreply@blogger.com (Viv King) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:40:14 PDT

Arguably Jane Alexander's most famous sculpture, The Butcher Boys.
Read my article about Jane Alexander.