Red Watsonias and Helichrysums (Perception series) 600x600mm

Title: Red Watsonias and Helichrysums (Perception series)
Size: 600 x 600mm
Medium: Oil on stretched canvas
Year: 2023

The orange or red Watsonias blooms spectacularly in Spring and early Summer on Table Mountain, where I often hike. In this painting, I combined the Watsonias with some yellow Leucadendron leaves and Everlasting (Helichrysum) flowers. When I walked on the Mountain that day, It started to rain…

This artwork is part of my “Perception” series:

Perception:

The way in which my sensory information is identified, organized, experienced, and interpreted, is my perception of the world I live in. The quality of being aware of my physical and spiritual world – through my senses, allows me to make sense of things happening in and around me.

When I perceive fynbos plants, I recognize, take in, and comprehend the shapes, colours, and textures that I see. I look at them so often, that I capture them in my memory and understanding.   When I portray fynbos into a painting, I create something new.  It is not merely a reproduction of the physical – it is my intuitive creation through personal perception. It is the way in which my subject is regarded, understood, or interpreted.

I do not do this alone.  I perceive the assistance of a higher power within my creative process.  I perceive that the Creator of the universe is using me as a tool to create art for His glory.  I allow the deity to use my perceptions to make original art in me and through me for the benefit of people around me.  For those who find pleasure in my creations.  Those who view it, as well as those who own it.  I aim to create beauty.  To magnify the goodness in nature and the goodness of the Creator.

This is my art.  This is my perception.