My Art Journey
I often am asked why I started painting and whether I had any formal training. The answer to the first part of the question is by chance, and to the second no.
My art journey started early 2016, a by chance meeting with a friend in Switzerland, that sparked my interest in exploring art a little more! The world of art was not completely new to me; I have dabbled around with fabric painting, even selling painted cushion covers to an interior decorating shop during the early 1990’s in Durban, South Africa, and had a crazy scrapbooking phase resulting in numerous albums!
District Six, Cape Town, South Africa
I do recall buying my first piece of art at the age of 18. I was a first year student (1976), with a very limited budget when I saw a piece in charcoal that I knew had to be mine! It was priced at R115 (the equivalent of €5.50 currently). The gallery owner must have noticed that I really wanted this piece, but that I could not really afford it. He allowed me to purchase it on a hire purchase agreement, R5/month until it was paid. I still remember him putting the red dot on the painting indicating that it was sold!
Back to my art journey, I was traveling fairly extensively at this stage for work, and often had evenings to myself. I could read only so much, and it was not feasible carting scrapbooking supplies all over the globe. A fairly impulsive decision led to me buying a tin of pastel pencils, which looked like an interesting medium, postcard size paper, a pad of paper (without investigating the different types of paper), and a variety of black fine liners. I was set for my next extended trip!
I didn’t know what to paint and looked everywhere for inspiration - magazines, Pinterest, YouTube… The pastel pencils were not all that successful! I liked the medium, but I had the wrong paper and it smudged so much that it left me more frustrated than being able to enjoy it. I now understand that the correct paper makes a world of difference!
I started reading up on watercolor paints, and decided that this could be the right medium for me. I can still remember buying my first Winsor & Newton Cotman paints, the student range of paints. It is described as “accessible but uncompromising on quality”, and I soon realized that a switch had to be made to better quality paints which opened up a whole new painting experience. I subsequently discovered other brands - Daniel Smith, M. Graham & Co, Holbein and Sennelier. And I now have favorite colors in all of them.
Learning more about the different quality papers available was important. Terminology like the weight of paper, cold pressed/hot pressed/rough and percentage cotton became important to understand. My favorite brands, after some trial and error, are Arches (a French brand), Lanaquarelle (another French brand) and Winsor & Newton (a British brand). I recently started using Fabriano Artistico, 100% cotton paper, almost exclusively for my greeting cards.
There are many people/places along my art journey that needs to be acknowledged:
Art shops: it is impossible to walk past an art shop, and not to buy a beautiful tube of paint or paper.
Art galleries and museums, a constant source of inspiration.
Art teachers that provided a more solid understanding to the wonderful world of watercolor both in South Africa and Belgium.
A trusted friend in Germany that encouraged me to start Tharien’s Art, to keep exploring my talents (both in painting, but also writing blogs), to move away from a PDF catalog with photos of all my cards. Creating a website opened a whole new world!
Family and friends from all over the world that expressed their appreciation of my art. And that bought greeting cards and paintings. THANK YOU! Without your support, this journey would not have been possible.
Painting with a purpose has become very important to me over the past number of years. Rhobi and the girls of Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania are a constant inspiration. Your support has enabled me to raise almost $20,000 since 2020 in support of Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania.
I could not have done all of this, without the support of Graham. Thank you for your love and support, endless cups of coffee or tea while painting, cooking when I become too engrossed and being a very fair judge on the quality of my art.
Finally, a quote from Vincent Van Gogh that says it all, “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
