Painting at Kogel Bay is always a special treat for me.  Here is my work from March 2019.
Last weekend I went down to my favourite place on the False Bay coast to do some painting.

I sat on a grassy patch looking out over the bay and did the following work:

Here is the start – it was quite a complex scene but I sketched out the main details and started painting.  I like to starting painting as soon as possible – detailed drawing can be a little taxing on concentration.

 

I got this far on the Saturday (above).

And then we had a public holiday yesterday.  I had work to do but later took a drive out to Kogel Bay to sit and paint again.  As I walked down to the beach I saw a chap sitting near where I had been working.  Then as I got there I saw he was sitting on my patch of grass.  He was fishing.  Anyway – most of the time South Africans who go to places like Kogel Bay are pretty cool so I asked him if he would mind if I sat nearby and completed my painting as the rocks all change shape from a different angle.

He offered to move but I asked him not to.  It turned out he was pleasant company as he baited up and cast into the churning water.  He is a teacher in Macassar.  He was fishing for Galjoen.  But was not having much luck.

Anyway I started to complete my painting but as he sat fishing I did this little painting of him.

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Later he did decide to go back to Gordons Bay to look for better luck.  Years later I met him at Bikini Beach in Gordons Bay while I was scouting for a images to paint from that beautiful spot.

When I gave him the painting he told me that his youngest son had been selected to play rugby for a junior South African team in Ireland.  It is very exciting but he has to come up the R40 000 which is a lot on a teacher’s salary.

This is what I find so often.  Everyone has an interesting story.

 

And here is what I did.  Another special time at a very special place.

And here is a kogelmander – I think Kogelbaai is called after these little guys – though I may be wrong:
kogelmander-D

 

A week later I went down and completed the following watercolour:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And two years later, almost to the day went to the same spot.

Looking in the other direction I painted the following watercolour.  This was shortly before my exhibition to launch the 2022 calendar.

And here is the part if find so wonderful about this beach.  In summer it is a wide, sandy stretch the very best place to spend a morning, before the South Easter pushes through.  You just have to be a little careful about rip currents.  And Great Whites.   And in Winter all of the sand washes off Caves Beach.  I think it is because of the change in current direction or the intensity of the waves.  Those winter swells come crashing in in a spectacular way.  Something like that.  Then with Spring the sand is returned to the beach , all freshly scrubbed and sparkling.  It is really a wonderful process.  Caves Beach is a gem.