Taking stock 2020

Where does one begin to take stock of the year that’s drawn it’s last virus-filled gasp?

2020 in Australia started with horrendous bush fires that devastated large parts of the country. Whole towns were obliterated, many people died, and the toll on wild animals, unable to escape the flames, was awful. The road to recovery here is ongoing.

Then we started hearing reports of an outbreak of a corona virus in Wuhan, China, with confirmed cases rising and then reports of deaths. By the end of January the first cases in Australia were reported and by mid-March restrictions were imposed to slow the spread of the virus, now officially called COVID-19. Australia has fared better than many other places, but now suddenly, alarming numbers of new cases have challenged our growing complacency. Movement between states has been halted and put many plans on hold.

The art classes moved out of my little studio. We went online using Zoom. It was surprisingly successful, and although enrolment numbers were small, all who participated enjoyed the time to learn and create together. It became a safe way to remain connected. 

This year my motivation to paint became much harder to find when the usual group exhibitions like the Rotary Spectacular were cancelled. I’d lost the urge to paint in oils, so I started to draw and paint more on paper, working in watercolour and experimenting with acrylic inks. I know that, in time, oils will call me back, but for now I am content to allow myself the freedom to experiment and play a little.

From the beginning of the year I had been using a square Seawhite sketchbook for sketching when out and about. 

Sketching at Ivy and Lark - ink and watercolour 

Since I was now largely confined to my home, I used the sketchbook to plan paintings, working with digital revisions and making notes on planned changes. With the closure of the physical Studio I also felt the need to document the changes in my life as well.

Water lily colour sketches - this painting remains unfinished 

In March I started making notes trying to record what was developing around me. The notes make for depressing reading, especially since months later the news is, if anything, worse not better.

Then the Covid-19 notes were supplanted by other sketches until the tragic, brutal death of George Floyd occurred. This was another terrible milestone in this unique year. In some ways it helped me to honour his life with a drawing.

George Floyd - ballpoint pen in Seawhite sketchbook

After the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg in September I felt the need to do another portrait.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg - 1933 - 2020 Portrait in Procreate

This year I’ve been grateful to have the park across the road from my home, enabling me to walk, to blow away the cobwebs of being cooped up at home. This abstract drawing is inspired by bark.

Digital work using Procreate has been a lifeline this year. I’ve concentrated on portraits, using muses from Sktchy, completing 88 portraits with just a handful in analogue mediums. (I’ll write more on the these portraits in a separate blog post to follow.)

A commission for my son involved the design of a wallpaper for his living room - you can read more about this here:

What lies ahead in 2021? The only thing I know for sure is that we will have to accustom ourselves to a new normal - a COVID-19 normal. The virus will be with us for some time (if indeed it will ever go away completely) in spite of vaccines now becoming available.

I live in hope that I will be able to reopen my Studio to real live artists. Should conditions in Queensland remain as they are with no community infections this could be at the beginning of the first term. 

Seasons Greetings

All of a sudden it’s the week before Christmas, and as we approach this holy festival, we do so with very mixed emotions. Regulations restricting the movement of people across the world have resulted in plans to celebrate with family being thrown into disarray. It’s so hard to be away from loved ones at any time. On special holidays this is especially difficult.

Wherever you are, I wish you time to relax, read a good book, or watch an exciting movie. Hopefully you will be able to connect with your loved ones, even if only in a virtual manner. 

Please stay safe. 

A Decade in Australia

On the 9th December 2010 I landed in Brisbane, Australia, to begin a new phase of my life. It was an adventure into the unknown.

I came down to earth with a bump when there was a long wait to go through customs and immigration. There were many questions  - what kind of visa do you have? (I think I had a trainee).Eventually the formalities were over and I could walk through to meet Tanya. It had been a long wait - over two years...

My dear daughter, in her infinite wisdom, decided to best way to become acclimatised to Brisbane time was to keep busy. We went to the bank to open accounts and apply for a credit card. Then, because they were soon moving into their newly built house, we went to Ikea for some essential items - I mean why not? Just the thing after a flight of 24 hours and a travel time of perhaps 36 hours plus. Later in the evening, I was the babysitter while they joined friends at a U2 concert!

Visits to Australia 

I had visited Australia twice before. In 1987 I visited Western Australia we stayed with relatives in Perth. I visited the Art Gallery where I was introduced to Aboriginal art for the first time. 

In 2008 I came to Brisbane to help my daughter after the birth of my grandson. During this visit we discussed the feasibility of a move to Australia. Although it would be an expensive and daunting move we realised that it was, indeed, possible. My daughter and her family had migrated a year and a half earlier so before I could apply for my parent visa they were required to have been here for two years. It was the start of a long wait. 

A few favourite watercolours 

Deciding to relocate 

Moving country is hard and when you are older it is a big decision. I had lived my whole life in South Africa. My son and his family lived near me. We worked together in our family business. My sister and brother, and their extended families were in South Africa. I had built up a network of contacts in the art community, regularly showing work in various galleries and group shows. I would be saying goodbye to the familiar, the safe, the known.

From the time I submitted my visa application in January 2009, I had to wait another eighteen months for the visa to be granted. This was a strange time - a time when I was in limbo - neither here nor there, not able to fully immerse myself in life in Durban but also not able to fully plan my new life in Brisbane. 

In August 2010 my visa was granted. Now it was time to put my house on the market and get ready to move. I had been reluctant to do too much preparation until I knew that the visa would be granted, and although there was no reason that I would not get the visa, it almost felt as though I would be tempting fate if I started packing too soon.

Glimmering Fragments of the mist - oil on canvas  - The park across the road from my home.

Packing up

Packing up a whole house is daunting at the best of times, but when you have the added pressure of knowing that everything you decide to take with you needs to fit into a 20 ft container, you need to tackle the task with a ruthless, unsentimental approach. In spite of this last statement, I knew that I would need to have loved and familiar objects accompany me. I realised that I would note be able to afford to buy new furniture, and in any case, I loved my things. 

I sorted and tidied - books, clothes, crockery and kitchen items were marked keep or go.

I also decided to have a sale of art and staged an “Out from under the bed” event. I displayed paintings and drawings as well as other odds and ends, provided tea, coffee, wine and snacks. This was also a great way to say goodbye to many friends.

Damask Peony - oil on canvas 

By the end of November came I had received an offer on my  house, but the sale remained unconfirmed. I was getting impatient. I wanted to start my new life, and wanted to get there in time for the New Year. So I booked a one way ticket to Brisbane. The removal company packed all my worldly good into the container. Now there was no turning back. 

My brother drove me to the airport to catch my flight - I still had not heard about the house sale. As we drove into the airport, my phone rang, it was the estate agent, the sale was confirmed. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, now I could get on the flight with a much calmer frame of mind. I knew everything was going to turn out well.

And indeed I was right - everything has turned out well.

P.S. For ten years I thought that I landed on 10th December, but thanks to a Facebook post, Tanya reminded me that I landed in Brisbane on the 9th December!