“Because we are tall and absorbed in the different facets of our busy lives we see children but often overlook them. In the work on this exhibition I level my focus on the child in the child’s world and the little child in the grown-up world”.

As she channels her attention on a subject, the more Anthea paints the more she sees. She explores the subject openly with no preconceived ideas, absorbed in gaining an understanding of the detail within the bigger picture. As she engages with the scenario she paints, and closely observes her subject she builds dense, textured and layered compositions through the process of painting.

“We take nature for granted and look without seeing” she points out. “Yet when we focus on the secrets and wonders locked and woven into the simple landscape or in the organised pattern on a plant, we see the relationship between the different elements. Each element harmonises in a perfect composition which makes us realise an order far beyond that which we can ever comprehend. We can just look, see, learn and grow humble as we perceive the greatness of the whole.”

She prefers to leave the interpretation of her work to the viewer.

MY STORY . . .

I was born in Windhoek in Namibia on May 10, 1970 , and lived in several towns in this country. At the age of 15, I moved to Potchefstroom in the Gauteng Province of South Africa . At present, I live in the Western Cape.

I live on top of Piketberg Mountain (Piket-Boberg) on a beautiful farm with my five children. I run an organic fruit farm and a self-catering guest house. I paint as much as possible - from 3 am every day until it is time to get the children ready for school and tackle the daily demands of family and life on a farm. .

A picture paints eternity; it transcends reason and speaks to the heart – without a word. It tells the story of a time and a place and of people – of their ways and their feelings; and of my way and my feelings; my life. It says everything on a single page. It fills me with wonder, because it taps directly into the original source of existence, directly into creation.

Anthea Delmotte experiences life intensely. She was thrilled by an opportunity to make studies and paint The Cape Town City Orchestra. Fine detail faithfully observed enables her to capture the vitality of the occasion. Her densely constructed compositions convey the interaction between the players, their instruments, each other, the audience and the fine classic lines of The Cape Town City Hall. This is a visual experience of a great import, a Cape Town cultural institution, an invitation to applaud it – and in so doing recognise the hand that portrays it.

And while the music rings in your ears you can turn to her landscapes painted in and around Leopoldville, enjoy the personalities who people her world and another local brand of music.

My inspirations are changing all the time and I see myself as an eternal student of the art of painting, an art scientist who experiments, an art psychologist who analyses myself and everybody around me; a preacher; a politician.