24.06.2010 

I’ve just finished an artwork which I really enjoyed, named Cosmos Country…

*it will be in the Botanical category of my Facebook group- I HEART ART, http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/I-Heart-Art/114657411897008?ref=sgm  or on my website gallery.

The reason I enjoyed doing this artwork is that firstly, I love Cosmos flowers and they remind me a lot of my childhood in KwaZulu Natal, Ladysmith.We spent a lot of time playing in the veldt and on friend’s farms there.

And secondly, my Grandfather (Edward Hansen), who was also an artist and a greatly adored figure in my life, painted Cosmos scenes.

I have pictures of him painting them (they were some of his earliest works). He was a self taught Artist who only took up painting on retirement from a successful entrepreneurial career. He was forced into retirement owing to a very weak heart and even had to re-learn to paint left-handed due to losing the fine-mobility of his right hand.

My mother's parents have always been nearby and growing up, seeing him happy and relaxed, painting beautiful local scenery was a great influence on me.