Back to Landscapes .....

The start of 2014 has certainly enabled me to explore... discover...and learn!!!!.....

During the last week of April the family and I visited Aberdares Highlands,  a part of the Great Rift Valley, a half hour drive northeast from Nairobi City in Kenya. It was truely a memorable time and after the short holiday I was down to some painting!!!!

From the slope of Mweiga  Hill, in the Aberdare Highlands there are distant meadows and fields visible. 

From the slope of Mweiga Hill, the Mount Kenya peak can be seen  between 6  and 7 am while the sun is rising. 'Sun Rises over Mount Kenya' was inspired by the view of the mountain from the very top of the slope at sunrise. It was misty and cold, but the view was truly majestic and watching the sun rise was a memory I will keep forever in my mind's eye. Watching the sun rise was almost like feeling the rising of something spectacular! ... the beginning of some thing new, the rising of hope and possibilities and the  forgetting of past problems!

While strolling through the green fields of the Aberdares Highlands,  I spotted three Poinsettia trees! The view was calling me to paint it!  All three trees had their flowers bloomed in red flowers. It was a truly memorable moment capturing the light peering through the trees onto the lustrously sparkling greens. It was an inviting sight ! Poinsettia also happens to be symbolic of purity and celebration. 

The memory of the place translated onto canvas within a month of my visit.  It is said that the more significant the memory the more significant the process of painting! This was truly a significant memory and process of painting for me. 

I could smell the trees, feel the stillness in the air yet the warm of the sun rising.... 'Sun Rises' was a relaxing experience painting just as much as it was experiencing the sun rising over the highlands at Aberdares behind the distant mountain. 

For this painting, it was more than the visual memory of the place that created it, but a touch of my other senses working, including the smell of the place, the feel of the warmth of the sun and the stillness in the air that contributed to the process.Making the memory of complete meant also painting 'Sunset' - inspired by the sun setting in Aberdares Highlands. I wanted to give a warm feel to the painting  therefore I used more of red in the painting with (dioxazine) purple to create contrast with the yellow.

I tend to close my eyes visualize the painting which takes usually a few minutes then bring paint to canvas. The unusual unexpected interactions of brush strokes sometimes happen and end up giving my painting a completely different outcome from what I imagined and sometimes is more exciting than I even visualized.  Creating these memories and capturing the moments on canvas bring me back to painting every time!..... Please do contact me directly if you would like to see these paintings.