Namibia is on the south west coast of Africa right next to Angola along the great rift and plains. There are still many indigenous tribes living in Namibia, along with a growing urban population. Some of the tribes represent peoples with ancestors who lived there since the beginnings of humanity. One aspect that struck me was that one of the tribes used clay formulations to protect their hair and skin from ultraviolet damage from the sun. A kind of natural sun screen that would absorb light due to the iron oxide content. The women work their hair into thick braids molded with clay and woven with decorative elements at the end of the hair or on the crowns of their head. Along with opulent gold and beaded necklaces it made for some compelling images found on google search image and wikipedia. I also noticed how much fun the people seemed to be having, they seemed like people who liked to smile and laugh a lot. For the painting my first instinct was to do a portrait of the people with their clay-molded hair, but after some trials it didn't go so well and in the end I was just copying some photos off the internet without anyone's permission including the people who posed. In the midst of perusing Namibia landscapes, I saw something interesting called 'fold geology' where the earth rises up and twists into curvy, multi-layered mountains. The analogous imagery of clay-woven hair and fold-mountains was fused into the Namibia painting, so when you look at it, you may see a mountain or a flowing hair-do. Some typical African plains landscape in the background gives a context to the scene.
World Inspired Landscapes: Namibia, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, May 2024
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