Uncategorised Archives - Linda Howe-Ely

ArtB Tiny Treasures 2022

Tiny Treasures is an annual Arts Association of Bellville fundraiser exhibition. The size limit is 20 x 20 cm. This year I decided on a theme of tree shaded paths for the four oil paintings I submitted. The scenes are all places I walk in around Cape Town. Two of the works sold during the exhibition.

I chose the subject of this painting for the dramatic shadows the huge gum trees cast on the path by the huge gum trees growing in this part of the Cecilia Forest.

This spot is a delight, and I loved the pattern the shadows made on the path. Deer Park is an area below the front of Table Mountain.

This spot is a wooded area below the stone cottages on Kirstenbosch Drive. It was the site of Protea Village, which was demolished in terms of the infamous group areas act, and the people who lived there moved elsewhere. Something I found very poignant here was an old pear tree which still stands in the wood, blossoming and producing pears. Happily the land claim was finally acknowledged and some of the Protea Village families will return here soon. For more information on this read this article: http://bcra.co.za/constitution/protea-village/

This is a path in the Lower Tokai Park. It’s a delightful place to walk as one always sees something new, depending on the season. It was once a pine plantation, but fynbos now flourishes in a large part of the park.

Last year I chose mountain paths as my theme, see https://lindahoweelyart.co.za/2021/07/10/https-lindahoweelyart-co-za-tinytreasures2021/

Linda Howe Ely In Blog, Uncategorised

Lockdown Sketches

During lockdown I was not able to go out sketching and painting with the two groups I belong to.
One of the groups, Urban Sketchers Cape Town, suggested that we sketched what we saw at home, so I went into my garden in Plumstead and sketched there.

I really enjoyed spending time in the garden and observing the plants and insects! I discovered that we have two resident lizards.

Sketch 3 was done after a visit to the nursery. I put the little plants on the table outside and they looked so good I had to sketch them.

The fourth garden sketch shows the doorway to my outside studio with some of my still lifes inside.

The fifth sketch was done inside. I decided to sketch some of the things on the kitchen dresser.

The sketches are all A5 in size. Happily one of the sketching groups has started up again and I look forward to joining them soon!

Linda Howe Ely In Uncategorised

Protea Village

Our sketching group visited the site of the old Protea Village for a few weeks in a row in the spring of 2019. The arum lilies were flowering and the abundance of trees makes it a very attractive spot for artists.

The area has a history which not everyone may be aware of . Protea Village began in 1834 on the farm Protea. After the establishment of nearby Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden in 1913 many of the villagers worked there. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the people of the village were forcibly removed under the Group Areas Act. Many of the former residents or their descendents have finally won the right to return to the area and plans have been drawn up for the area.

Three stone cottages remain from the village days. The sketch above shows two of them with the mountain towering behind them.

The community built the little church on the corner of Rhodes and Kirstenbosch Drive from stones from the nearby Liesbeek River.

Linda Howe Ely In Uncategorised

Mountains

I discovered mountains when I was an art student. A friend invited me to come on a Mountain Club of South Africa meet, and I discovered a new world! I have taken photos on most trips but it is only relatively recently that I have really painted mountains.

Some scenes can be painted over and over, as Cezanne found with Mont Sainte-Victoire. I have not tired of the wonderful view down the valley from a spot called Bergriviersnek, in the Jonkershoek. I have done four versions of this view so far, below is the biggest one.

Apart from the sheer beauty of mountains and their shadows, the other things that fascinates me is cloud over mountains. Recently I did two horizontal works of ridges in cloud and mist.