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The Aramex delivery van pulled up at the aging artist’s house. Yes, here was the beechwood plein – air easel that he had ordered online! To be honest, it wasn’t as if the aging artist needed another easel, he already had more than one. It was just the look of beechwood that made him do it.
Strangely, the artist didn’t open the package. He let it stand in his studio. For a week, and then another week. And a few more. The unopened package leaned in a corner of the studio, its bright yellow stickers glaring at him.
Autumn came and went, and then the winter rain started. The view out of the studio window was anything but inspiring.
It was then that the aging artist with his sore knee remembered a place, a place to go to if the sun ever came out again.
It was a farmhouse near Napier, on a road called “Oskop Pad.” Yes, this farmhouse set in the wheatfields and now deserted, this would be the first place to set up the beechwood easel. The sore knee went away. The artist was ready. All he needed was the sun.
I’m parking out on a stoep in Napier, doing a little sketch while I wait for my friend Ashley to appear. I strolled in, there was no -one around and it was all open. They’re very chilled in Napier.
I’m visiting my friend Ashley who bought this place on the main road last October. She’s done miracles with it, transforming it into B + B and an art studio. It’s called STOEP of course, and I realize this is something I’ve been missing since the Fordsburg days. It’s so lekker to be parking out on a North-facing stoep, watching the life of the town pass by below.
The truth is, I needed to get out of the house. The Cape winter isn’t being very kind this year, and I’m so gatvol of that cold breeze coming off the dreary Atlantic. Or it whistles down over the Kleinrivierberge, all the way from Sutherland. Aaaargh! Surprising though, how just a 40- minute drive through the wheatlands of the Overberg can set one right again.
The road curves through vast swathes of intense green farmland and there are interesting dirt options with names like Boskloof and Schietpad. I mean to explore them more thoroughly as an anti-depressant measure. And to paint of course. I’ve packed all the gear, but, with all the tea-drinking and stoep – sitting, I didn’t quite get there. But tomorrow’s another day….
Travels with Pierneef 