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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Folks and Fish #3

Of course we have already learnt a lot about the bokkom industry on the West Coast. First I painted a little row of bokkoms being salted and hung out to dry. Then the second stage was shown where they were peeled and made ready to be eaten.(Remember my homemade bread, apricot preserve and slivers of salty bokkoms served with coffee?)

This painting, third in the set "Folks and Fish", shows the largest of the bokkom drying barns on the banks of the Berg River at Velddrif where thousands of little mullet fish can be seen any day of the week. The bokkoms take 8 days to dry, depending on the weather and air circulation Janine is the petite lady who has managed this factory with its large salt bins and many hanging lathes for more than 12 years. This quietly dignified lady had me spellbound as she pointed out the many aspects of this industry which provides both jobs and food for the local people.

It would be easy to export the dry snacks with their sweet fishy smell or even introduce them to Johannesburg and other South African cities. But of course, it is a born and bred local taste that takes a bit of getting used to. As Janine stands there with her old-fashioned set of scales, she probably sees the same customers day by day.

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