Delight in the Detail

The words 'informal' and 'relaxed' sum up the style of the West Coast. I am taking you to a restaurant on the beach at Paternoster, so please leave all suits and high heels behind! We can take a long stroll on the beach to watch the colourful fishing boats coming in, photograph the seagulls and then step up to Voorstrandt Restaurant, hardly shaking the sand from our feet, and find ourselves an outside seat with sea views. The restaurant is situated in an antique tin fisherman's cottage more than a hundred years old.

I was so thrilled when I first saw the welcoming wall in the entrance on the street side of the building. Against the 'heritage green' corrugated wall there is a piece of wood from a real shipwreck. The flaked red paint forms the perfect contrast to the building. I also loved the old bottles that was picked up among the flotsam at some stage, and the buoys and ropes! A very large blackboard holds a daily message for visitors. In painting this scene, the old wood got the most attention! In my art box I have a triangularshaped palette knife that got its first job here in scraping on texture, and it worked perfectly!

I almost forgot! What shall we eat? I am in search of the perfectly grilled mullet (harders), my favourite! As you are not from here, I suggest a more 'tame' fish dish, some yellowtail with butternut, creamed spinach and a few chips? Sounds good? Let's order!

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Paternoster Wedding

Anri was born on the West Coast and was fortunate as a young adult to spend five years on a farm outside Paternoster. She knew then that she would like to get married here one day. Young people almost always leave our quiet shores and Anri worked in both the Netherlands and then settled in London. Here she met Rodrigo and the dream took shape!

As I painted Anri, her feet grounded in the soil (ah, in fact it is very clean sand!) of her birthplace and her eyes on the wonderful Rodrigo, the painting started to become very symbolic. They are turned away from us, towards their future overseas. The little boat points to a distant place too. I chose very controlled colours so that everything would echo the sea, sand and sky. Don't you just love the eye contact of the couple, fingers entwined and the groom's pants gamely rolled up?And of course, that lovely dress that leaves us speechless!

My thanks to West Coast photographer MARIÉ MALHERBE for the use of some of her material for the painting and for the photo I have reproduced here.

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Chimneys and Saplings

150 x 200 Acrylic on canvas board.

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I am still finding lovely details in the homes of Paternoster, details that salute the cottages of the past. A chimney, of course is most important. All the fishermen's cottages used to have enormous wood-firing ovens inside with plastered outside chimneys. I showed many of these chimneys in cottages in my earlier posts last year. Here you see a modern version.

Then there were saplings, the almost straight thin branches used for ceilings, and in my painting used as veranda coverings. In my own home saplings give a cozy atmosphere to the main bedroom. There are 3 paintings in this little set now, and I will leave it at that. The photo shows the set together.

It is shiveringly cold in the Cape at the moment. Not being able to leave the house or to travel at all, I have rounded up some friends who gave me photographic material for the next three West Coast stories. There are some paintings taking form at this very moment. The first of these: another West Coast bride! Remember Canadian beauty, Melissa in my older blog The Bride and the Sea? So I am painting my second wedding!

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Boat Planter

6 x 8

Acrylic on canvas board.

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I am still captivated by the detail that makes up the brilliant white, postcard pretty Paternoster! So, what is in fact happening here is that another set of paintings is developing.

The town's historical role of fishing village is nowadays also echoed in the newer homes. Here we see an old boat painted, anchored with some rocks from the ocean and turned into an attractive planter. This is not a one-off idea! I love the fact that there are street upon street of these boats in front of the cottages. In my painting, the flowers are once again orange, the complimentary colour for the blue shutters.

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Windows and Walls

6 x 8 (Acrylic on canvas board).

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Driving through the small town of Paternoster, I am starting to concentrate on the lovely details that make up the whole of this successful architectural venture. Of course, because this is a rather chatty sort of blog, you must refer to the experts if you want to build a proper West Coast cottage. The information will be available at VASSA ( Vernacular Architecture Society South Africa).

The walls should be roughly plastered. As the first freed slaves and early fisherman a few hundred years ago did not have all the tools, one should try to emulate the true texture of early West Coast cottages! The cement was made in lime kilns as I have explained in an older blog. This lime was also mixed with salt to "paint" the walls white.

Windows and doors were made from the salvaged wood from the many ships that met their ends on this coast. As the ships were painted for protection, the locals would always try to get hold of paint to repaint their woodwork. Blue and sometimes green were the preferred colours. Today the blue shutters, doors and windows give unity to the street scenes. I loved the way the orange aloes complimented the blue shutters in this scene. And please do not miss the rocks on the roof as if they are anchoring the corrugated roof and chimney. Ah, detail is everything!

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A little bit "French"!

12 x 9
Acrylic on canvas board
SOLD. CLICK HERE TO BUY CARDS OR PRINTS OF THIS IMAGE

"Die Winkel op Paternoster" (it translates as : The Shop at Paternoster) is probably the most photographed building in this postcard- pretty town.

I decided to focus on some interesting detail and liked this French-looking corner where the three red shapes met. The red objects are: the barn door, the frame of the blackboard menu, and the red dragon on the antique enamel signboard (Mobiloil). I call this scene a little bit French because Afrikaans-speaking families have French genes among others!

Wow, I realize now that I am o-o-o-o-old enough to remember village shops with enamel signs! The rust from the screws would run down the paint of the outer walls! At about five years of age I carried our freshly-laid eggs in a brown-paper bag to a shop called "Driewald Kontantwinkel". The shop owners gave us credit for Mom's lovely eggs!

Reminiscing aside, this shop at Paternoster is a 'must visit'. Who can resist West Coast delicacies, home baked confectionery and colourful preserves? The shop brims with nostalgic items like enamelware and old porcelain. A coat rack with hats.....postcards..... a feast for the eyes!

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Boats, Boulders and lots of Blue!

Boats, boulders and lots of blue, it can only be a description of Paternoster. It is a mild day, almost too warm to be called winter. Having developed a love for Paternoster, it is easy for me to go the 100km to reach one of the prettiest fishing villages in South Africa.

The beach is a soft blonde colour! The rounded boulders are an un-threatening grey that throws purple shadows. And then, to contrast with nature, there are the washing-day-white cottages with their blue shutters. Do not forget the boats, mostly blue, lying everywhere or arriving suddenly from the big nowhere over the ocean, filled with fish. These scenes just wait to be photographed or painted.

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More about Paternoster

West Coast autumn days have many faces, but a lovely clear almost-winter day is like a tonic for the soul. It is 12 noon and on the beach at Paternoster everything is peaceful. Clear turquoise water, a gentle low tide, boats resting and parents probably having a cooling drink on one of the verandas!

Aren't you painting too many boats, the family wants to know....but I still have a story to tell about the small fishermen, the subsistence guys who are really at the bottom of the hierarchy as far as fishing rights are concerned. During the last century, people were free to fish but things do change for many reasons. Fish become scarce. Crayfish is no longer poor people's food but an important export product. A fisherman is allowed to bring in 4 crayfish per day, and a small amount of fish,which means to live he has to go out daily and face the dangers of the ocean.

Large factories can buy bigger concessions than the small guys, and they have to. They must pay salaries to thousands of factory workers. And also, the population now need many tons of frozen fish, tinned fish, sardines, crayfish and cat food which a large company with large trawlers and refrigeration is able to deliver.

It is sad to listen to the very real fears of some of the 30,000 local subsistence fishermen. They can go to work in factories and the steelworks , but that means travelling to Saldanha, and have a divided family with old values under pressure. Children also loose respect for parents not able to provide for them and get involved in bad habits. West coast tourism, luckily is growing and will hopefully provide jobs as people discover the joys of this peaceful area. How nice it is to be in a place that is not rich, not opulent, but so very tranquil and naturally beautiful! Click here!

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White on white in Paternoster

Today, I show the new developments in Paternoster. There had been unfortunate design happenings along the West Coast, as in Yzerfontein and Langebaan where far too many different architectural styles vie with each other for attention. Here in beautiful Paternoster every new building shows it's respect to the Cape vernacular style.

Look at those vertical windows, the dark gray corrugated iron roofs, the railway sleeper lintels over wooden window frames and the one and only colour adopted from past dwellings: white! And as a feature: the large white chimneys, practical and pretty!

Paternoster is still very much a fishing village and one can see a hundred boats drying out on the wide white beach at any specific moment, but it has also become the place where tourists can relax in luxury in unique boutique hotels and cooling restaurants. Have a peek at Paternoster here!

Paint wise, yes, I am back where I was before with my finer brush. To me, the choice of which detail to skip over was too hurtful, so here we have the full illustrated image!

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You must love Paternoster!

I held out for a while, but now I must introduce you to the best loved and most beautiful West Coast town, Paternoster. It still retains that true fishing village feeling. I previously joined the voices which complained that the town was now "over-developed"(about two-hundred houses). That is until you behold the southern coast of Spain! Here on the golden beaches, you truly relax. The ever-present fishing boats are rustic and colourful! The few new restaurants offer splendid views and welcome refreshments. All the homes in this spotless village are built in the true West Coast vernacular and mostly painted white.

How did the name Paternoster come about? Each expert has his own theory. Was it because the indigenous people wore beads that reminded one of a rosary, or did some boats land in trouble on this very rough coast and quickly realized the value of praying the "Our Father" which is what the word means?

A more painterly painting this time! I refrained from using my number 4 round brushes....mmmm...I think last week's very fine illustration had something to do with it. I grabbed an angled shader and used the sides, edge and point and did a lot of double loading with 2 colours. The photo underneath shows a boat coming in, and granddaughter Robyn in pink, joining the curious crowd!

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