Imagine

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

Green ice cream

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

Shaped like a crown, but it cools you down. The thing to eat in the summer heat. I enjoy painting these because it feels like it cools me down, and I like the rich, pop art colors and curly forms. 

A slice of cheesecake

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

SOLD

I enjoy painting this kind of thing, but it does have its own drawbacks: it makes me ravenous!

Cupcakes

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

SOLD

A pair of cupcakes. I may end up doing a whole series along these lines, because how can there possibly be too many cupcakes?

Monochrome elephant

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

I now and then enjoy working in monochrome, particularly for this kind of subject, which isn't all that colorful to begin with.

Flower power

 Acrylics on Masonite, 20 x 30 cm:

SOLD

A trip back to the 1970s, that psychedelic era of bad clothes and worse hair, that makes older folks wax nostalgic, and younger folks think it was a different planet...

Uncle Al

 Acrylics on Masonite, ACEO (= 3.5 x 2.5 inches):

SOLD

I have hardly ever tried portraiture before, so I don't know what possessed me to try it out at this scale - I was terrified the whole time. Art truly is 99% perspiration, and no more than 1% inspiration. 

Rooster portrait

 Acrylics on Masonite, ACEO (2.5 x 3.5 inches):

Construction worker

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

This work is for sale. Contact me at brianvds@gmail.com.

Artists are often on the lookout not so much for subjects as for shapes. This construction scene gave me plenty. 

Refreshments on the way

Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

SOLD

Free State province in South Africa is, for the most part, a very flat, grassy plain, that gets hammered by the fierce African sun. By the end of the dry season, even the sky looks bleached out. Under such conditions, it's good to know trucks full of drinks are always on the way. 

Outbuildings on a farm

 Acrylics on Masonite, 10 x 15 cm:

SOLD

You see this often when traveling around the countryside: somewhat dilapidated, but clearly still used, buildings, sometimes seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I always wonder about them. What are they used for? Storerooms? Toolsheds? Why were they built in that particular spot? There are fun little mysteries all around us. 

R495 near Rayton; overcast day

 Acrylics on Masonite, 10 x 15 cm:

This work is for sale. Contact me at brianvds@gmail.com.

I rather like this sort of cool, cloudy weather. I do find it kind of tricky to paint, mind you, and it tends not to be as popular with viewers as more brightly lit scenes either. 

Ladybug

 Acrylics on Masonite, ACEO (= 2.5 x 3.5 inches):

Power station, Mpumalanga

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

SOLD

A typical landscape in South Africa: a flat, grassy plain with a power station, and pylons running off into the distance. As always, I am a bit ambivalent about it: purely in visual terms, I love this sort of grimy, industrial scenery (it's a bit like a giant, outdoor still life setup!), but of course, it also mars the natural landscape, and as at present, most power generation here is via coal, it is not exactly very environmentally friendly. 

Trumpeter hornbill

 Acrylics on Masonite, ACEO (= 3.5 x 2.5 inches):

SOLD

Grain field with silos

 Acrylics on Masonite, 10 x 15 cm:

SOLD

Painted landscapes often don't quite reflect the reality, namely that much of the world is flat as a table. You'd never guess, judging from all those mountains you often see in the background in landscape paintings.

When I started painting, I soon learned why: huge, flat, expansive landscapes are quite spectacular when you stand in them, but they can easily look a bit featureless in a painting, particularly a small painting such as this one. And thus, artists usually put something in there for the eye to focus on, as I did here with the silos.

As I noted elsewhere, I am as fond as anyone of romanticized paintings of rural life, but I also like the more industrial-looking reality of modern farming. 

Lavender field, Western Cape

 Acrylics on Masonite, 10 x 15 cm:

SOLD

Something fishy

 Acrylics on Masonite, ACEO (= 2.5 x 3.5 inch or 64 x 89 mm):

Tractor at work

 Acrylics on Masonite, 10 x 15 cm:

SOLD