Biography
I grew up in a small town, Swellendam in the Western Cape of South
Africa.
During my primary school years, we were taught art and craft
which I
absolutely loved, however when I reached high school no art classes
were taught.
Still I was very fortunate, for my father inspired me
to do technical drawings of vintage cars, which he did from the age
of 12.
These endless hours of drawing cars helped me tremendously to
see perspective and motion.
After
school I applied to study fashion design at the Cape Technicon. Art
at school level was compulsory, however they gave me a chance.
The
first six months were rather difficult as I had to learn everything
my classmates learned in 5 years.
Using different media was a
challenge, however I fell in love with sketching.
After
working in Cape Town, I married a farmer from my hometown and
continued my sketching,
my subjects changing from nudes to
Swellendam’s old houses.
I also
found myself drawn to oil painting.
I studied with the artist Wendy
Martell and took part in an exhibition at the Hugo Naude Gallery in
Worcester.
I stopped
painting for a couple of years, because my two children needed their
mother and my husband needed help on the farm.
This
break was not in vain, for when I started painting again I was
emotionally riper with more life-experience.
This could immediately
be detected in my work.
-----Pencil Sketches done by my dad, Max Tomlinson----