Monday, August 31, 2009

Artist: Bev Letard, Umhlanga

Bev's watercolours and in particular her Koi paintings, never fail to delight. Her ability to capture the reflective nature of water and the colourful, yet almost translucent scales of the Koi, is a special talent!

Something worth noting about these popular subjects, is the following which I picked up from Wikipedia:

What are known as 'koi' in English are referred to more specifically as 'nishikigoi' in Japan (literally meaning 'brocaded carp'). In Japanese, 'koi' is a homophone for another word that means 'affection or love'; koi are therefore symbols of love and friendship in Japan.

The paintings shown here are simply entitled Koi no. 1 (above) and Koi no. 3 (below) - both 760mm x 550mm


Artist: Emma Robb, Umdloti

As Spring approaches, and with it the beauty of transition from winter to summer....so too, a transition in subject and application can be seen in Emma's bold, wonderful new works - Missing Watercan (above) - and The Sunnyside of Love (below) - both oils of 700mm x 550mm...and both bound to draw smiles of appreciation!!


Artist: Les Foyn - Glenwood, Durban

Les has not allowed the grass to grow under his feet and has been hard at work since the last exhibition producing amongst others (spitfires below), this his "Neptune's Wrath" an oil 1048mm x 801mm...a sea wild and awash with colour and movement.............one can imagine ol' Neptune smouldering just below the surface....

Above - NGD Spitfire - 1086mm x 851mm
A little background history on Les' Favourite subjects.....quoted from Wikipedia
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries through the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used into the 1950s both as a front line fighter and in secondary roles. It was produced in greater numbers than any other Allied fighter design and was the only Allied fighter in production throughout the war.
The Spitfire was designed as a short-range high-performance
interceptor aircraft[5] by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works (since 1928 a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs). He continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith became chief designer.[6] The Spitfire's elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a higher top speed than the Hawker Hurricane and several contemporary fighters.[7] Speed was seen as essential to carry out the mission of home defence against enemy bombers.[5]
The distinctive silhouette imparted by the wing planform helped the Spitfire to achieve legendary status during the Battle of Britain. Despite a public perception that it was the RAF fighter of the battle, the more numerous Hurricane actually shouldered a greater proportion of the burden against the Luftwaffe.[8]
After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire became the backbone of RAF Fighter Command and saw action in the European Theatre, Pacific Theatre and the South-East Asian theatre. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire saw service in several roles and was built in many different variants.[8]
The Spitfire will always be compared to its main adversary, the Messerschmitt Bf 109; both followed similar design philosophies of marrying a small, streamlined airframe to a powerful liquid-cooled V12 engine.


Above - NGC Spitfire, 1086mm x 851mm; and
Below - Emerging Spitfire, 1050mm x 787mm