From the Artist: Phew! This was not an easy assignment. I decided to experiment with a different medium, although I am mostly accustomed to working with acrylics, and invested in a large assortment of watercolours which I have not used for at least seven years. The scene that I have painted of the mosque in a "Bo-Kaap" street is probably familiar to every Capetonian.
I was especially captivated by the picturesque, colourful assortment of houses in the Cape Malay quarter which have also captured the imagination of so many famous South African artists. I would still like to achieve an easier, more flowing effect with my paintings, and feel that I have not yet mastered the art of eliminating the extraneous elements of the basic composition. A John Virtue or Jim Hawkins I could never aspire to be, but one positive effect I have achieved is that I have rediscovered the pleasure if working with watercolours and hope to perfect my technique with a little further practice.
From the Painting Guide: Remember that no artist's style developed overnight, that it develops over time. So you may wish this painting were more abstracted than it is, but really you should be comparing it to previous paintings. Take each subsequent painting a step further, and over the course of a few months you'll be quite a bit further down the road to working in a more flowing way.
An exercise you could try is to do another version of this painting using a brush twice the size of the one you used to paint this. It'll physically limit the detail you can put in.
I find myself wanting to crop off the top third of the composition, so the top of the building in the center is at the top edge. At the moment the large expanse of blue sky feels unbalanced against the level of detail in the foreground. Sure it'll crop off the top of the building on the left, but does that really matter in terms of giving a sense of location? I think not; after all, it's not a postcard.
I was especially captivated by the picturesque, colourful assortment of houses in the Cape Malay quarter which have also captured the imagination of so many famous South African artists. I would still like to achieve an easier, more flowing effect with my paintings, and feel that I have not yet mastered the art of eliminating the extraneous elements of the basic composition. A John Virtue or Jim Hawkins I could never aspire to be, but one positive effect I have achieved is that I have rediscovered the pleasure if working with watercolours and hope to perfect my technique with a little further practice.
From the Painting Guide: Remember that no artist's style developed overnight, that it develops over time. So you may wish this painting were more abstracted than it is, but really you should be comparing it to previous paintings. Take each subsequent painting a step further, and over the course of a few months you'll be quite a bit further down the road to working in a more flowing way.
An exercise you could try is to do another version of this painting using a brush twice the size of the one you used to paint this. It'll physically limit the detail you can put in.
I find myself wanting to crop off the top third of the composition, so the top of the building in the center is at the top edge. At the moment the large expanse of blue sky feels unbalanced against the level of detail in the foreground. Sure it'll crop off the top of the building on the left, but does that really matter in terms of giving a sense of location? I think not; after all, it's not a postcard.