Tuesday 10 June 2008

The invite


On Friday I was lucky enough to be invited with a group of artists to paint with them on a secluded farm. I haven’t held a brush since last year, but accepted the invitation nonetheless. Now is probarly the best time as ever to confess that my primary goal wasn’t to produce a masterpiece during the day, but just be surrounded by other artists - and my little studio can get a little lonely sometimes. And I thought it might be a welcome break from my photographic exhibition preparations.
Artists are fascinating people. Whenever I can get hold of biographies of artists I devour it. Without trying to sound like a cliché, artists are just different - the way they think and approach life. They seem to experience life with such depth and intensity. I cannot help but think that they squeeze all the goodness out of what life has to offer us. It’s as though they have a secret garden within them.
We had wonderful weather, though the winter’s bite couldn’t be denied, the sun welcomed us during teatime. We painted, talked about art and life (which are intertwined anyway) and ate fresh fruit salad with guavas, mango’s, granadillas and oranges. Lunch consisted of green salad with broccoli, tomato and gerkins. Soup with mealie bread and hummus or liver paté. What a feast!
I felt like an Impressionist on a picnic!