Colours Safari

Approximately fourteen years ago my good friends Salvelio Meyer and Esmé Goosen, both artists in their own right, coordinated, planned and arranged a “painting” weekend in the Karoo.

Spending a weekend on a farm nestled under Cockscomb Mountains was something that really appealed to me.  I invited two girl friends to join me for a a few days of fresh air, painting, laughter and fun.

Upon arrival at the farm on the Friday afternoon, we set about preparing for our painting expedition.  We were given some a small canvas, all stretched and prepared, an easel and palette, an assortment of oil based paints, some turpentine and a rag.  Esmé spent time chatting to us, giving us wonderful advice and tips, the most important piece of information was that we were to enjoy ourselves and have fun.

Saturday morning we were driven to a really lovely spot in the veldt.  Whereupon we set up our easels and made preparations to start painting our own interpretation of old abandoned farm house. 

Oh my, oh my, I am clumsy at the best of times, this time I really out did myself, I fell off my chair and landed in a little thorn tree, one of my girlfriends was laughing so much she ended up on her back right next to me in said little tree. 

Salvelio could not understand what had happened to us, one moment we were seated and ready to paint, the next moment we seemed to have disappeared.

Ah yes, he found us, in a heap in a little thorn tree giggling hysterically, our hands, faces and clothing covered in paint.  “Gail, the paint is used for painting on the canvas and not on your hands and face”!  He was laughing so much that it took him a good few minutes to help us up and clean our hands and faces.

We managed to straighten ourselves out, we stopped being foolish and spent the rest of the morning trying to  paint.  Salvelio and Esmé were so patient with us and thankfully they laughed at all our antics.

The sheer joy of being outside in the veldt reminded of my childhood, I loved playing outside, in that space there is a sense of freedom to make a huge mess, be it with water and sand, or paint, an easel and some canvas – that glorious feeling of being free, creative and alive.

I don’t for one minute believe that I have the artistic ability to translate a scene onto a piece of canvas, however, just being in the Karoo veldt, the buzz of insects and bird calls was so blissful, satisfying and in a sense healing.  An experience we should all try.

A place to breathe – just breathe.

To escape the midday heat we moved our easels to a very large cool farmhouse where we made ourselves comfortable in the sitting room and stoep. The serious artists in the group were a bit irritated with us, as I think we were a bit too noisy and boisterous for comfort, however, they soon decided that joining us in our shenanigans was better than being grumpy.

Our hosts were so delightful, in true Karoo style hospitality, they went out of their way to make our stay comfortable and memorable, treating us to hearty Karoo meals including a wonderful braai (barbecue).  A delightful aspect of the weekend was sitting around a huge camp fire, laughing, chatting, and getting to know folk who soon became friends.

In conversation with Salvelio reminiscing about this particular weekend, we came to the conclusion that a similar type of weekend, an artistic getaway in the Karroo would be balm for the soul.

I think we are all in desperate need of an escape to a place and space where we can just breathe, or just to sit in the veldt and stare into space.

All those in favour…say Aye…