Piketberg

Posted by Stephen Quirke on September 19, 2009 under Art, en plein air, landscape, Piketberg, watercolor, watercolour | 8 Comments to Read

This is a watercolour of the Piketberg from near the top of Piekeniers Pass.  I have wanted to sit and do this for as long as I remember coming through here but of course I have always been going somewhere else.
I have taken a couple of days to fill the well.
There is a town called Piketberg on the slopes of the mountain.   The Afrikaans people have a story about the town drunk who took a short-cut through the grave-yard late one night after the usual.  He fell into an open grave and passed out.  He was woken late the next day by the sun shining in his face.  He climbed out of the grave thinking he must have died and this was the resurrection.  He looked around and said “Swak Piketberg”  (Swak means “shame, bad, fail, all wrapped in a word with a strong dose of contempt”.

This is a watercolour of the Piketberg from near the top of Piekeniers Pass.  I have wanted to sit and do this for as long as I remember coming through here but of course I have always been going somewhere else.

I have taken a couple of days to fill the well.

piketberg1-N

There is a town called Piketberg (…OK…) on the slopes of the mountain.   The Afrikaans people have a story about the town drunk who took a short-cut through the grave-yard late one night in his usual state.  He fell into an open grave and passed out.  He was woken late the next day by the sun shining in his face.  He climbed out of the grave thinking he must have died and this was the resurrection.  He looked around and said “Swak Piketberg”  (Swak – pronounced “swuk”) means “shame, bad, fail”, all wrapped in a word with a dash of “stupid” and lashings of contempt.

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