OIL PAINTINGS BY CAROLINA ODENDAAL

ABOUT THE ARTIST

I have enjoyed making art even as a young girl. One of my first attempts was at producing my own Christmas wrapping paper. I planned a wonderful design, but unfortunately I only had decorators while oil paint and watercolours to paint with. As a result the white paint didn't dry in time for Christmas!

Since those early years, I have had a number of wonderful and very inspiring teachers who have helped me develop my art work. My first teacher came to me as a gift from the heavens. We lived in Lady Grey a tiny village in the Eastern Cape and one day I found out Helene Du Preez a college art teacher, had come to retire in the village. I went to see her and she agreed to teach me. I was on my way and have never looked back!

Wherever I live I try to connect with the things I see around me. Mountains in Lady Grey, flowers in Bloemfontein, and now living in the Limpopo province I have turned to aloes. (Sometimes I also paint luscious cakes!) I am drawn to enlarging tiny pieces of the landscape as a opposed to the landscape as a whole, and finding the most interesting and hopefully mysterious view.

I enjoy using a large format to really blow you away, and then perhaps a tiny one, to emphasise how precious something is, for example a view or item that has had special significance to me. I strive to create paintings reminiscent of jewel boxes full of colourful treasures.

I studied art history with UNISA and developed a very painterly style, with a love for splashes of colour. I have participate in numerous group art exhibitions and now after many years I have the pleasure of being able to paint from morning to evening, immersing myself in my work.

ALOES

Ellisras is hot - unbearably so! On my arrival here I found it very difficult to acclimatize. One morning while listlessly surveying my new environment, I spotted a group of aloes nestled amongst the trees. They had adjusted themselves and some of their leaves to fit comfortably amongst the trunks of the trees, in their own little space on earth.

I was captivated and so began my relationship with these aloes. Throughout the summer, and long afterwards they inspired me to accept what cannot be changed and to make peace with my spot on this earth.

SOME THOUGHTS AND REASONS BEHIND THE WORKS