When living in South Africa, I traveled around the country quite a lot and found it to be diverse and quite beautiful. I moved to Cape Town for a few months in the 80's working on renovating a wing of the Groote Schuur Hospital (where Christiaan Barnard successfully completed the first open-heart transplant). I was deeply impressed not only by the stunning beauty of the Cape but also by the many buildings, homes and gardens - many built in the Dutch style with gabled ends and thatched roofs. In my spare time (which I have to say was not that much!), I explored the region driving from Cape Town to Hout Bay to Simon's Town around to False Bay and points in between, drawing and painting the places I found most interesting. I particularly have fond memories of walking the slopes of Table Mountain, watching birds, sketching and feeding the tame deer to be found there. I'm very much looking forward to another visit - hopefully next year.
The view in this painting is along the coast looking down over a headland and across the many miles of wild Atlantic sea. Since most of the details will be in the foreground rocks, I kept the sea and sky simple. I had planned to do a loose interpretation of the scene but as you will see later, this was not to be!
