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Saturday 30 November 2019

Gathering Storm







Derric Van Rensberg

Gathering Storm
A moment captured in this scene of wheat fields in the Western Cape where the still, drowsy, late afternoon is suddenly disturbed by distant thunder rumbling in the mountains. On cue, the day begins to cool and the sun bathes the surrounding country side in an eerie lingering brightness before it finally sinks into the crags on the horizon and the curtain slowly falls on another day in Africa.

Derric Van Reenen is a well known South African painter.
I was not familiar with his work until another artist I know, suggested Derric as my choice of artist for the 12 bythedozen blog. I looked up his paintings on the net, but it was when I visited a cousin in a distant town who had one of Derric’s paintings on his wall and a signed book of most of his paintings that I was really happy with my choice. Visiting a gallery in this town, I fortuitously came across an exhibition of a dozen paintings by Derric. I was then sure I had chosen the right artist!

Enjoy,

Allison

19 comments:

  1. Fantastic piece and I love your preamble which would have been great and really set the scene if you had started with it.

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    1. Hi Phil,
      I replied and published my comments on all the Derric Van Rensberg pieces and not one seems to have worked. If this comment works I'll try to figure out what I did wrongly before. Here goes. Allison.

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    2. Thanks Phil, I now know what I did wrong - I answered everyones posting while logged into Lawrence's account. Will remember to write my 'story' before the piece.

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  2. A lovely piece Allison. I enjoyed looking at all the detail in it - you have used a lot of different types of stitching and the netting to get the look you wanted. All very effective. And of course, the colours are spot on.

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    1. Thank you Dianne. I used the netting to get the misty effect behind the mountains plus a bit of embroidery, as usual.

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  3. Your variety of fabrics has made this very interesting and enabled you to show details clearly while keeping the colours true to the artist . Did you paint or dye the sky which depicts beautifully the gathering storm? or was it one of those pre-dyed fabrics which one sometimes miraculously finds to suit the piece?

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    1. I enjoyed doing this piece - loved the bright colours! I found the sky fabric in my stash and I had bought it a long time ago from a local woman who has a dyeing business called Amafu Fabrics. ( Hanlie is also a member of a small group and we call ourselves the Arty Farty Group).

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  4. Exquisite. The feeling of the gathering storm comes through, and the colours are perfect.

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    1. Thank you Linda. I had some non - creative days along the way, I must say and then it was a bit of a rush to get it finished on time.

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  5. Looking at your piece I definitely feel that storm coming in, Alison. Thanks for choosing such a lovely (and new to me) artist.

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    1. I was very happy with the result at the end. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet Derric, in Knysna, where he was having an exhibition but I will look out for him in the future.

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  6. Your stormy sky is really effective: I wouldn't want to be out in the coming storm! Your fabrics give a good sense of perspective.

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    1. I still have my piece hanging up in my studio and still enjoy it. Enjoyed working with such bright colors too.

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  7. Fabulous fabric choices and great perspective. Love that stormy fabric. Hilary

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    1. Thank you Hilary. Sorry about the delay in posting but, as I explained to Phil, I posted earlier but mistakenly used Lawrence's post and so it didn't publish anything I had written!

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  8. Well done Alison. I have to agree with all the above comments - your choice of fabrics were perfect and illustrate this artist and his work very well particularly the sky with the storm coming in. Really effective.

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    1. Had you ever come across this artist? He was new to me and my brother's partner ( who is an art teacher in George ) suggested I use Derric for my choice. I really enjoy his work.

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  9. Allison.... Its perfect. You've made me feel very homesick! Xxx

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    1. Sorry about that Claire but then I have succeeded in showing a little bit of our beautiful country - side. Enjoy!

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