There are quite a number of homes in Darling with the traditional attic with an outside staircase. I knew I had to paint one of them for the blogspot and also hoped I could stumble upon a good ‘attic story’. The old South African farmhouses with attics were the stuff of legends, because the older Afrikaner people kept their coffins in the attic ready for their burial one day. Not to waste such a strong container, they would keep their surplus dried peaches in it, until the coffin was needed.
My husband readily agreed when I decided to paint Simoné’s Restaurant with their outside staircase. I know why: he is absolutely addicted to coffee-and-dessert at Simone’s! So once he was settled in with his coffee and a soft-centered double chocolate browny swimming in thick warm chocolate sauce, I walked up to Simoné and asked her to tell me something about the history of the attic, only to hear that there was nothing at all, the house was less than 10 years old!
“Marie,” she said, “the attic is not even in use”. I felt a tremor there and then! A beautiful new vacant attic above this excellent and popular restaurant would be the perfect venue for my exhibition! On the spot it was organised. So, starting on 28th August and going through September all the paintings on this blogspot so far, will be exhibited at Simoné’s on Darling’s main street.
This was one of the nicest buildings I had to paint so far and I had 5-year old granddaughter Morgan as my assistent. She loved doing the feathery strokes for clouds and then patting them with her little fingers. After that she was very keen to help painting the ‘curly-whurly S’, but I squeezed out some bright colours and let her practice letters in her own book!
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Oh Marie, what a lovely venue for your exhibition! I believe this will add to the enjoyment of all the lucky people visiting the area to view the flowers, and that your exhibition will be most successful.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this entry, how wonderful! It seems like you've found the perfect spot for exhibiting your paintings! Congratulations on the beautiful paintings you have done recently!
ReplyDeletePerfect place for an exhibition! Although you had me there for a while - I thought you were going to write about finding old coffins smelling of peaches... not a empthy attic. Who has an empty attic? Here in Texas we pray each day that the attic will not come down on us with all the "stuff" that we keep cramming in there. So - it was meant to be for you to find that empty attic.
ReplyDeleteGood job, Morgan, on helping Ouma with the clouds!
I am very pleased with this spot. I live a little distance from Darling, too far to be considered as part of an art tour. Now, of course, we have found the solution. I will post the detail on my blog. I was thinking of 'painting' a map of the little town.
ReplyDeleteDrat! I thought we were going to find an old forgotten coffin or something! Now let's see...coffee and dessert? Marie's gallery? Hard choice! I'd probably go upstairs first, then down for that coffee. Lovely painting and a truly fun story!
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