Number 10: I studied a BA ( Art) at Michaelis school of Fine Art, UCT. In the final year of my painting major, l had to choose a typical SA subject and spend the year painting it. I thought of thorn trees initially (because of the rough difficulties of the 1970s and 1980 in South Africa). However thorn trees are not naturally from Cape Town and l chose instead to focus on pumpkins.  This is one of the large set of paintings l made. I stretched the canvasses myself and mixed my own paints with pigments and bases as well as stitching the canvas. Almost 40 years later a few of these paintings still remain in my possession and they remind me of the wild, interesting and challenging days at Michaelis…

Written by Sheryl