Landscape Painting: Quiver Tree Step by Step

The tree in this painting is a quiver, which are found in dry, semi-desert regions of Southern Africa. They start as a single trunk with a greyish bark; this splits open to reveal a golden, paper-like bark as the tree grows. The ‘leaves’ are thick like those of a succulent, rather than thin and papery as on a ‘normal’ tree. I find quiver trees very appealing because of the way they manage to grow in tough conditions, under the harsh sun baking the soil, with little rain ever refreshing the landscape. And for the golden bark (for which quinacridone gold is perfect!)

This landscape painting is one of a series which came out of a trip made to Kamieskroon in Namaqualand (an area more famous for its spring flowers). Some 50 kilometres east of this tiny village (with one garage and an old, family-run hotel), along corrugated dirt roads, there’s a forest of quiver trees. I stopped on the side of the road and spent several hours sketching, taking reference photos, and generally imprinting the scenes in my mind’s eye. During this time, one car that went by, slowing down to ascertain if I’d broken down… why else would I be wandering in the veld at midday? Next time they’ll know: it’s to obtain reference material for a landscape painting!