I like to be able to get immediate results
when I have the urge to paint. I run my
own design agency and am a single mom of three. There is no time to
laboriously prepare canvases and paints. If I get the time to paint, I need to
be able to do it easily. I started off learning all about watercolour in my
first year at art college, but then we moved on to more “serious” mediums on
canvas and watercolour got forgotten. I love drawing, and being able to see the
artist’s mark in the work. Watercolour allows all of those things to happen,
sometimes in an incredibly scary and uncontrolled way.
Favourite colour ?
This is so difficult… in watercolours, I
love Windsor and Newton Indigo. In life? It changes. At the moment in South
Africa, we are reaching the end of the Jacaranda season. I have had a few early
morning drives when the sun is not up yet, but the predawn light seems light
purple as you drive under the trees. I love jacaranda colour at the
moment, autumn colours in autumn and the
clear blue, ochre and terracotta combination of winter on the Highveld.
Favourite painter ?
Why must I choose? Like colours, I have
many favourites. I love Gauguin’s use of colour, Matisse’s shapes, Monet’s
genius, Jim Dine’s hearts…. The list is endless
If you were a painting what style of
painting would you be?
A chaotic one
What has been your biggest challenge in painting watercolours?
Loosening up. My drawing/illustration
instincts kick in and I have to stop myself from panicking about how the paint
doesn’t look right.
Where is your favourite place to you paint?
Anywhere with my sister, Vandy Massey. We
paint wherever we meet up. Most memorably on a holiday in France... we had so
much fun “flinging paint”.
Who has inspired you?