Where will the road take us?

I suspect that all maps are copyrighted! So even though I am looking at an attractive little map of the West Coast region, I cannot post it here. I do have a longish canvas, though, and maybe I should just paint a map as well! The road in my painting is the road between Yzerfontein and Darling. We are still in the season of clouds, not quite winter anymore and not what we would call warm enough to venture out without something warm to wear. The windmill is a well known landmark as it is suddenly visible on the top of a blind rise, complete with its dam and awesome clumps of arum lilies.

In my next blog we will follow this road and beyond to visit the very picturesque Riebeeck Kasteel, where beauty abounds around every corner. It is connected with some very old South African history. I am going to do at least five paintings, and I expect having a difficult time choosing the images as there is so much to experience! You will love Riebeeck Kasteel!

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Showtime in Darling

It is the month of September and visitors from all over descend on the surprisingly small but so significant town of Darling. In my attic gallery I have sold paintings to people from Pretoria, Moqambique, Namibia and France, all coming here to experience the wonderful Cape Floral Kingdom. Darling is a little distance from the sea, close enough for the sea air but far enough to miss the salt spray and the flowers are magnificent!

I am painting the arum lilies which I obtained legally.....the fines for picking these treasures are extremely heavy. On the radio, television and in the papers there are warnings not to buy them from street vendors. I am talking lilies, but visitors should park and walk the routes where the world's most beautiful and very colourful smaller flowers are hiding in marshy areas. If you want to take in all the flowers together there is the annual Darling Wildflower Show and the annual Orchid Show later this month.

http://www.darlingtourism.co.za/

There is a nest of wonderful guest houses, restaurants and very original entertainment. Leading the program is the Voorkamerfest, where live shows and plays are performed in various private homes. There are seven different routes. For each ticket the visitor is transported by minibus taxi to three very different surprise venues. (all routes fully booked out for 2009). And in between theatre-going and dining, guests can follow the Darling Art Route, visiting 13 different homes and galleries in town. Visit me at no 3 ......

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Churning Them Out

The idea to paint some of the arum lilies brought to the studio by Karen of Lelieblom, was a good idea and it tends to relax my visitors when they watch me doing it. I was so pleased with all the comments I received after the last blog. Many interesting facts regarding these flowers came forward, especially regarding the edibility. MacTeddy dared me to try a dish made of the young leaves, suggesting that it may taste like baby spinach. Theresa from Geneva had already enjoyed a delicious dish in Japan where the stalks were used, and in Texas, 'rianreyneke' can buy a spicy filled leaf, a sort of wrap!

Arum lilies are standing thick along our roads. On a cold day like today when all the other flowers in the Cape Floral Kingdom close up, arums still stand in glorious display. The most beautiful scene year after year is seeing black/white cows lying down on top of large patches of lilies, always on a spot where it will be dangerous to stop the car for a photo!!!! After learning of the medicinal use of the flowers, I begin to suspect that cows by instinct do something good for their bodies. "I say, Daisy, shall we take The Cure this year?"

I forgot to tell you that the preferred name among Afrikaans people is the lovely-sounding 'aronskelke'. Maree mentioned in the comments that she used to have a black arum lily in her garden, and sometimes I have come across a rather sharp yellow example. I wonder, did nature produce them, like the creamy white ones here in our fields, or was man in an experimental mood?

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Exhibition in the Attic

My exhibition "Art in the Attic" in Darling started today. You will find the info on the right hand side of this blog. Of course it means one thing: I am back in Darling, "the little village we know so well"! The countryside is now carpeted all over with lovely arum lilies. From Lelieblom Farm I received a very large bunch for the opening day, and I have started drawing them on small canvasses. For the next few days I will sit and paint arums in the well-lit attic. I have finished a large painting of arums recently and 5-year old granddaughter, Morgan, is showing it to you. Now that I know how to spend my time in Darling, more paintings of arum lilies will follow.

Arum lily is scientifically known as Zantedescia Aethiopica, but this flower has many other names too. I grew up with the name 'varkoor'. In a very old little rambler's guide I also found the following names listed: Calla, pig lily (the flower resembles the ear of a pig), white arum, trumpet lily, Lily of the Nile, varkblom, varkblaar, Mothebe (Sotho language), iNtebe emhlope (Zulu).

This plant has some medicinal value and is also edible. A heated leave can be applied to sores and insect bites. The best way to heat it is by pressing it with an iron. In this way it acts as a poultice. What I did not know was that the young leaves are edible and can be cooked like a vegetable. Mmmm, any volunteers out there?

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Lilies of the Field

I am leaving Darling now to start exploring the rest of the West Coast. After all, you must have started wondering about the abscence of the ocean and the boats!

After the recent heavy rains the fields and valleys between Darling and Yzerfontein are green, and great clumps of arum lilies have opened along both sides of the road, the pure white flowers peeping out behind large arrow-shaped leaves. The rainfall here is limited to winters so that between April and September we may have from 125mm to 350mm of rain. No wonder the West Coast area of roughly 4400 km sq is the habitat of 1200 species of flowering plants. The arum lilies, Zantedescia aethiopica, are the first to appear before the advent of spring. Whether the motorist takes the time to take a look or whether he ignores them, they will freely offer their beauty from now on until almost January.

Is there anything on earth more calming than observing flowers? There are lovely words in the Christian Bible that everyone, everywhere should write onto the front page of their diaries full of appointments, tasks, lists and budgets. In plain and poetic verse it reminds us that we need not worry so much “:........Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you......”

There is always a moment when one falls in love with a place, and my first memory of Darling goes back about 15 years, when I noticed lovely cows lying on top of a patch of these flowers. Darling, the town of milk and arums...............

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