My favourite artist is Ian Van Zyl. He is local (from Umhlanga Rocks) and gets his inspiration from traveling for long periods of time in the country I spent most of my childhood years: Botswana. But, that is hardly the reason I have aspired for years to own one of his artworks. He depicts wildlife in such a true and clear way. All I have to do is look at his art and my heart aches for the wide open spaces and serenity of the ‘bush’. This is what I love.
Not only is the mood of his paintings captivating for me but he paints my favourite wildlife animal: the Zebra, with emphasis on what I love most about it: the full round bum, the strong contrast of the asymmetrical stripes, the soft rounded head and the gentle eyes. I think they are the epiphany of Africa.
Even more, I adore colour and he embraces it making it a feature in his art. He does not shy away from strong colour’s as most wildlife artists do.
His works are mostly in oils and I one day want to own an original. However, I will have to do a lot of saving for that. This is why I am so excited: as a belated birthday present from my Aunt and Uncle I received a signed A3 print of one of his Zebra paintings. This is such a special present as now I own a part of an Ian Van Zyl painting.
