Since childhood, it has been drawing and colour that has brought the best out of life and been a constant source of calm, escape and joy….. I love the freedom to create a mood and tell a story, and it brings me immense pleasure when others can share in this experience through my paintings and sketches.
After a two month stay at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, almost precisely one year ago, I felt overwhelmed by the endless creative input, experiences and inspirations the great city had to offer. It is only now that I am able to reflect upon the experience I had there with nostalgia and a sense of playfulness, which has found its way into my art.
To me, art is essentially unacademic. Instead, it is the simple joy and life that can be found in it that attracts me. Carpe diem! Joie de vivre!… all these familiar clichés, to me, become real and meaningful through art.
Painting in oils and sketching in charcoal and pastels really encouraged my self-expression, and I feel this aspect of my art truly came into bloom when I (long since childhood) began using these media as a student of first Marié Stander and then Jeanne Hendriks. I hope you enjoy the stories that live in my art as much as I enjoy sharing them with you.
Anita van Zyl 