‘Why many people paint’
A large number of people in Mossel Bay create art and attend art workshops and lessons.
For many, painting is an outlet that allows them to relax as well as challenge themselves, according to one of these creatives, Rika le Grange.
Rika says: “At school, in standards 6 and 7 I did art, but then I moved to an agricultural school and could not continue with art. Then I started painting in 2009. While in Limpopo Povince I joined a group of people who were doing art.”
Rika and her family settled in Dana Bay in 2017, after living in Limpopo.
“Now I work on my own at home, but attend various workshops. I enjoy working realistically, using a photograph as a reference point, which is necessary if you paint people and animals.” Rika also enjoys painting flowers.
Creating, producing
She says that to her, art is about the process of creating and producing and the challenge therein. “It is a combination of paint brushes, paint and using one’s Godgiven talent. We have all been given different talents which we need to use to improve ourselves.”
Rika says: “It is similar to a potter with clay or a musician with an instrument. I don’t get much time to paint. I paint a little and then put it away to paint again another time. I enjoy using both acrylics and oils.
“In this technological era, I have the need to make something beautiful,” Rika says.
“You can’t always find satisfaction in your daily routine. Sometimes with daily work, there is no result that you can see. If you clean the kitchen in the evening, it is dirty again the next day, but with something that you create, you can see a result which endures and this is liberating.
“In our everyday lives, we have to do the same things over and over again. Routine can be soul destroying, but painting feeds your soul,” Rika has discovered.