Amanzimtoti

Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 15, 2009 under Art, en plein air, KwaZulu-Natal, landscape, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 10 Comments to Read

here are two watercolours of the beach at ‘toti where I am working with a client and stayed overnight.  As I got to the beach a ski-boat was circling in the waves, which dwarfed the boat, waiting for a gap to go out to sea – round and round and then zoom – out dodging the breakers.  The first painting is captures the colours:

toti1-D

then I thought the composition a bit tame so I did this one:

toti2-D

After this I ran down the steps in the painting and had a swim in the gloriously warm Indian Ocean, pausing to check with a passing local that I was not going to eaten alive (“I don’t hope so..”)  heh heh.

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  • InkSplodge! said,

    You always do great skies, sea and beaches – living by the sea may have something to do with that as you get more practise – but still, since beginning my art class I’m starting to appreciate how difficult it can be to achieve a good wash, wet-on-wet etc. The palm trees are cool and yes, the composition in the second painting is much more interesting.

    Glad you didn’t become a shark’s breakfast.

  • butterflyhands said,

    So nice, Stephen. Looks like a painting you’ve spend time on in your studio, not a quick one on the beach! I like the wood of the steps – and the aloes. Cecily

  • lesliepaints said,

    I like both of these paintings, Stephen. I love what you do with plain wide open spaces. The first one is the one I want to look at the longest imagining what it felt like to sit there.

  • Carol King said,

    Hey Stephen, both are great. I love how you indicated the waves with that big rolling wave in the first one. Love the composition and colors in the second one. It’s so vibrant.

    It just started to get really cold here and about 75 miles north of me up at my sister’s it snowed today. So a nice beach scene is particularly lovely to look at right now.

    Glad you enjoyed your swim. Even gladder you did not become shark food.

  • swatch said,

    thanks June – There is a LOT going on in a painting and I still battle to get smooth washes when I want them. There are scattered remnants of the original indigenous vegetation at the beach there and I tried to find a scene with trees and sea but settled for this as my time was running out on a breakfast meeting. I was going to rush off after the first but am glad I pushed it a bit – the second has got more vooma hey?

  • swatch said,

    Thanks C – KZN has some beautiful places and it was so good to sit there. I am beginning to feel much more relaxed about sitting on site to paint

  • swatch said,

    thanks hey Leslie – this is such a good way to capture memories

  • swatch said,

    Ai – I don’t want to think about it – I think Amanzimtoti features on the shark attack register though I am not sure. There were nice waves but I didn’t see anyone surfing.
    Durban is always hot and muggy – in the deep mid-winter the locals may put on a pull-over so it was great to be there. I hope you are ready for the cold – I can’t imagine the temperatures you guys get there. It feels so good to in spring here.

  • napabelle said,

    These are beautiful. You make me want to go to the beach again !!!

  • swatch said,

    Hi Isabelle – thanks – yes it was lovely and calm down there.

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