My love affair with watercolour started almost ten years ago. But, before I am run away with by my feelings on this subject (I just finished reading “Pride and Prejudice”… Can you tell?), allow me to share a bit of a back-story:
Ever since I can remember, I loved to create. I had art as a subject all throughout school and loved drawing mediums (specifically pen and pencil). At university, during my Graphic Design course, we had Illustration as subject. In my first year, we touched on a large variety of mediums, including watercolour. From my second year, the pressure and expectations from other subjects became too much for me, and I struggled to keep up with Illustration assignments. I stopped drawing altogether, rather opting to complete Illustration assignments digitally - a shortcut solution, and one that did not serve me at all! I almost failed Illustration finals multiple times throughout my four year degree - a heartfelt blow to someone who always thought of themselves as creative and artistically proficient.
Sadly, instead of bringing me joy, creating art became a burden. It wasn’t until six years later that I endeavoured to create art again:
My love affair with watercolour started almost ten years ago. Alex and I were about to get married and start our life together on South African soil (we met while working on cruise ships; he’s Ukrainian). We were strapped for cash, so we had to get creative with gifts for our wedding party. Since our Best Man - my high school bestie - loves wild dogs, I decided to create an artwork for him.
I can’t remember why I decided on watercolour instead of my used-to-be-beloved drawing mediums, but I was probably influenced by what I learnt of watercolour at uni — watercolour is considered a relatively “quick” medium (we were strapped for time too!): In the early 19th century, the masters used watercolour primarily as a sketching tool to plan their “finished" work in oil or engraving!
Whatever my motivation was to try my hand at watercolour, the results were undeniable: I fell in love with the medium and back in love with creating art! I felt absolutely at home in front of that easel… And for the first time in… forever, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be an artist!
That painting marks the start of my happy struggling journey.
I didn’t plan it, but now - almost ten years later - it feels like I’ve come full circle by painting another painted dog! It's incredible to see how far I've come. It's humbling to realise how long I've been painting...
I’ve aptly named the new wild dog “Joy!”, and it will very aptly live out its days side-by-side with my first wild dog artwork in my bestie’s home.
The reference photo for “Joy!” was expertly captured by wildlife photographer, Riaan Botha (find him on Instagram), and shared with permission. This playful pup makes for an excellent final addition to my “Move!”-series, that will be featured in my not-just-another-calendar 2025 Wildlife Calendar (now available to pre-order in my online shop!). Although this original has already found its forever home, I also have 20 limited edition, fine art prints of “Joy!” available in my online shop. These are NOT just prints -- not only is the likeness to the original uncanny, they are also exquisite in quality!
