Hi friends,
Welcome to my first newsletter. First of all I would like to thank everyone that signed up on my website for my newsletter. It is wonderful to have you here. For those that still need to sign up, please do. You will be the first to know about new work or prints that gets released.
I am Elise Erasmus and here I am in one of my top five favorite spots in the world. Next to the sea in Mosselbay. I live in South Africa, in North West and get to vacation in Mosselbay every now and then.
I am blessed to be married to a wonderful supportive husband for 35 years this year and we have 3 amazing daughters, 2 stunning son- in- laws and 3 grandchildren. I am passionate about drawing and painting, but I am also very relational and my family are very close to my heart. I truly sometimes find it hard to juggle it all.
I like working in different mediums as they kind of do different things and each one brings something different to the party. I find the immediacy, the emotionality of charcoal and pastels breathtaking. Then there's acrylic that allows me to play freely and put layer upon layer. To break down and build up again. Oil with its beautiful richness. Watercolor with its delicacy as well as vibrancy and easy to travel with. I find it hard to choose just one and therefore have kind of created stations in the studio where each is kept and where I can go to explore and even mix them up as my heart feels led to do.
Last year was a very big year for me. My middle daughter, Dalene, encouraged me, kind of gave me little push to book a venue for a first solo exhibition. A very good way to challenge your work as an artist to develop, by the way. Then our third grandchild, a little girl was born prematurely at 25,5 weeks in March 2023. Our worlds came to a standstill as we all pitched in to help out with her older boy of only 17 months. I thought this will certainly put the exhibition on hold for the year. Little baby Isabella was in hospital for 3 months and came home, a healthy, normal baby girl in June. We were overwhelmed with joy. The planning for the exhibition was in full swing again.
In August 2023, all the planning and hard work came together and I held my first solo exhibition, at the lovely Snowflake venue in Potchefstroom. I was able to showcase work done over 2-3 years and had a total of 61 works on the exhibition.
I decided on the theme: “Letting go” for quite a few reasons. I am a more introverted person and love working in my studio or among other artists. For me to showcase the work and be on social media is quite challenging. So to choose to stand alone on “stage” as a solo artist at the exhibition, was quite daunting for me. I had to let go of some fears. I truly have found so much joy and freedom in doing the work, and also tried to let go of preconceived ideas or planning and just paint and see where the work wants to take me. A lot of work consisted of free mark making and playing on the canvas and letting go of being in so much control. I think the theme represented the year as well where I was so aware of my inability to control life and circumstances, clinging to the reigns. And 2023 for me was another lesson in trusting God with the controls and the outcome. Letting go and letting God. And I was so blessed by allowing that to happen.
My daughter Dalene de Beer, me and my amazing husband, Rassie Erasmus that was such a big support helping with some of the framing and lights at the venue.
Such a wonderful crowd of people that helped to make the evening super special.
The reaction and support of so many people attending the opening night was absolutely amazing and I was so blessed with sales of more than fifty present of the work. My art teacher and mentor of over 16 years, Barend Grobbelaar opened the exhibition and it was very special to share the event with him.
Barend Grobbelaar and me.
Martie Bothma of the Snowflake Venue did an amazing job with the hanging and placing of the work. My husband, Rassie Erasmus, was such a great support and worked on the lighting to optimally show the work and it made a big difference in the end.
After the exhibition was opened and I had such a huge response, I realized I definitely have to get the website up and running. I wanted to be able to share my passion with more people and to make the work more available and accessible. I found the help of an amazing young man, Georg Muller who really helped, blessed and taught me so much regarding building a website. If anyone wants help building a website, he’s your man. And finally the day has arrived for the website to be opened and launched and I am super excited about it.
61 x 70 cm Charcoal
I want to take some time discussing my Life Drawing work with you. I felt hesitant in the past to share the Life Drawing work as I realized that a lot of people feel uncomfortable with the idea of nude figures. After deep consideration I decided to start sharing more of it, as it has meant so much to me as an artist. I also hope to inspire other artists to draw more often, as good drawing skills plays such an important part in specifically drawing people.
Life Drawing is something that lies very close to my heart. I love drawing the figure and to me when I’m busy doing it, it feels like making beautiful music. Drawing lines with different intensity and emotions, capturing something of the holiness and the beauty of the human form in all its vulnerability, is very special to me. In the Life Drawing sessions, I feel free to experiment with marks and mediums and to practice to react intuitively on the paper on what I feel the drawing needs.
I wanted to share this drawing with you, as this feels like music, the different mark making and where the arm for instance just melts into the back ground and by just a line the elbow is suggested. I specifically love working with charcoal as my main medium as it is such a great medium to modulate form and capture atmosphere and emotion.
People are one of my favorite subjects to draw and by doing Life Drawing I don’t only improve my drawing skills and the understanding of the human figure , I also build up a visual memory of the human form that helps me a lot in drawing people in general.
I started planning a new body of work for this year and I’m excited to see where it will take me. To get some prints done and made available on the website, is also on the table. I will keep you updated, so keep an eye out for the newsletter to not miss anything. And for those that haven’t signed up yet, please do. You don’t want to miss it.
Currently I am busy with a commission work that are very special to me which will keep me busy for the next little while. So I am definitely also open for commission work.
This is all for now. Enjoy going through the work on the website. Blessings for the year.
Kind regards.
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