South Africa is considered by many to be the cradle of humanity. There are proto-human fossils called hominids going back 2.5 million years, and even more primitive creatures homin going back 3.5 million years. Its an incomprehensible amount of time, yet here we are writing and reading blogs over the internet...just took a few million years to figure out how! This region of Africa was taken over by Bantu speaking people about 2000 years ago, then came the inevitable colonization by a series of empires, settling on the British. The initial interest was to set up a port town for ships that were passing between Asia and Europe, this was before the Suez canal. In the 19th century diamond and other mineral riches were discovered. A series of well documented political events, apartheid, and finally independence would follow. Yet, there is still massive inequity in South Africa between black people and white people. Water is one of the points of contention, the wealthy horde access to fresh water while the poor have to get what they can. The painting covers several elements, on the right foreground a massive swimming pool sits with a great view of the south Atlantic or Indian oceans. On the bottom right, below, some penguins are gearing up for a swim on the rocky beach. The image is a composite of things I saw in the internet, including some touristy shots of pools by the ocean, and beaches with massive round boulders and penguins.
World Inspired Landscapes: South Africa watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2025
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