Painting wth Richard Rennie

Last week, I went with a group of artists (and friends)to Clarens on an art retreat, a workshop with water-colorist and landscape artist, Richard Rennie.

What an awesome time was had! The comraderie amoungst not only artists, but women artists, is just really special. A matter of 'anything goes', there was no pressure to be or do anything other than what's good for you. Lots of good food, walks, long talks into the night ( the topics were often quite risque.....because they could be :o) ) sipping wine and liqueurs like 'Hot sex' and 'Nagtmusiek', laughing till we cried, hugs, shared interests.....all made those few days so memorable>




On our way, Nor, doing what she usually does....took a sudden turn onto a sand road and we all ended up at the outlet for the Lesotho Highlands Water project.








Richard Rennie, showing us a very loose technique he uses in his paintings. He's as comfortable with his messed-up paintbrushes as we are breathing! Almost without any thought (and absolutely no cleaning of brushes), he goes about applying his colors in just the right places and quantities.
I was fascinated







One of his water colors.

He taught us to move from dark, down to off-center lighter tones, down to dark at the bottom. There should be a darker focal point in the middle (or rather, center of your subject matter) to draw the eye in.

It all made sense, and although my style is nowhere near close to his, I learned so much.







Some of the pieces which I did in the first two days.

Naive and tight...to be critical of my own work....









A silhouette of an elephant....which Richard recons was far too difficult for me to do on the first day....but in fact, this was the easiest painting that I've done in a while...













This is a painting which I did for my husband. With the content changed somewhat, its a painting I did from a photo taken while we were staying in Lake Como, Italy, a few years ago.









Two of the most fabulous ladies in the world!
Aletta, a well-known SA Journalst, with the sharpest sence of humour you've ever come across, (Richard often had to sit down, laughng at her chirps) she's 72 years young, has been married forever with four daughters and 5 grandchldren. Her energy is inspiring in itself!

Then of course, Noreen...one of my soul sisters....a special, special lady!






A group photo...mostly Noreen's students. They love her dearly.