Joanna is based in Cape Town, South Africa. She travels around the Cape Peninsula creating paintings that capture the fleeting effects of light and the seasons on the dramatic landscape. When in her studio, she explores the human landscape in the beauty and complexity of the portraits she paints.
Where Wild Things Grow - Current Exhibition
I am part of a very special exhibition current on display at @wildekranscountryhouse in the Elgin Valley, famous for its abundant apple orchards. Just one hour outside of Cape Town, I have come to fall in love with this valley, as I have had the honour of painting the enchanted gardens of Wildekrans Country House and the vistas from above the garden and some of the surrounding farms.
My close @salon104.art artist friend @cabbages_and_kings_flowers and I are together exhibiting at @wildekranscountryhouse during the two @elginopengardensza weekends this year - 2-3 and 9-10 November. Wildekrans Country House is one of 10 participating gardens.
Each year Alison Green and her husband Barry Gould invite one or more artists to exhibit in their 1811 historic barn, to create magic alongside their magical gardens. With Caryn as my partner, we have created 40 artworks on the theme Where Wild Things Grow. For me, this is about the magic that happens within us when we are in a wild, unkept place. When we are deeply in nature, feeling our connection to our natural world.
All of my paintings were painted en plein air. I found inspiration in the Wildekrans gardens, high up on the hillsides looking down over the Elgin Valley or far off into the distance, or on beautiful neighbouring farms. Caryn has created Fynbos and floral-inspired paintings set in lush interiors, drawing upon Caryn’s own special history with the valley. We are transforming the barn into something quite special - our paintings will be set in a space that is unique, whimsical, colourful and full of flowers!
Golden Hour on the Blue Mountains, Oil on canvas, 15 x 25 x 4cm, 2024.
Location: Wildekrans Country House, Houw Hoek, off N2
Dates: 2-3 November and 9-10 November
Times: 9.30am-4.30pm
Everyone is welcome, and this is one of only two weekends each year when this garden and the other @elginopengardensza gardens are open to the public. Country-inspired refreshments will be on sale, and a donation to the Botrivier Education Foundation invited upon entry.
Recent Group Exhibition - In the Pink
This October I participated in our third Salon 104 group exhibition - In the Pink. Our show title was inspired by an experience many of us shared when we spent days and weeks on the farm Aswater just outside Prince Albert in the Karoo, 5 hours’ drive east of Cape Town.
The experience of being together, painting together, having impromptu “salons” of meaningful conversation, support and encouragement for our art making, challenging each other and ourselves, and so many meals shared…. It was a microcosm of what it means to be part of Salon 104. Fifteen members from Salon 104 particpated in this show, and creating alongside so many talented artists is an honour and an inspiration.
My paintings for the show were all painted en plein air at Aswater and in the surrounding hills, fields and the Swartberg Pass!
The remaining available artworks I exhibited for the show can be purchased through my website.
Debut Solo Exhibition
My debut solo exhibition was held last year at State of the Art Gallery.
All of my paintings for the show were painted en plein air in and around Cape Town. You will see mountains, beaches, rocks and sea, in my favourite locations - Silvermine Nature Reserve, Bakoven Beach, Cape Point, Chapman's Peak, Saunder's Rock in Sea Point, Lion's Head and Devil's Peak.
The title of the show - "Here I Find" - explores the power of being surrounded by natural beauty. When I create my landscape paintings, I am experiencing the deep, powerful, sensation of being in the presence of Beauty. When I am in nature, focused completely on embracing and capturing the beauty I am experiencing, I feel a deep connection - to my environment, to myself and to the world. I feel centred, calm, grounded. I hope that when viewing my paintings, you too are transported to this special, private - yet universal - place, where you find a deep sense of meaning and connection.
The remaining paintings from the show are available for purchase online through State of the Art Gallery.
The show included an interactive map, where you can see all of the locations where I painted, and you can click on the exact coordinates to find you way directly to this same spot!
The sounds I hear while painting
Painting at Slivermine Nature Reserve. Photo credit Andrea Stallbom.
My close friend Talya Chalef, an interdisciplinary theatre-maker and creative producer, designed beautiful, ethereal soundscapes unique to each place I painted. Each soundscape includes actual audio that I recorded while out painting - you’ll hear beautiful birdsong, the ocean, children laughing, my footsteps as I search for a spot to paint, and the wind! Click on the audio below for the specific sounds at each location and hopefully you can loose yourself in the sounds as you view my paintings in the show.
My latest print is now available - Silvermine Fynbos. I have created a limited edition series of 10 prints, slightly larger than the original painting (70cm x 46cm). The prints are on Fibre Matte 200 gsm archival quality paper.
Naartjies, Limited Edition Print of 25
Lion’s Head Morning Light, Limited Edition Print of 25
Swartberg Pass, Limited Edition Print of 5
Landscape Painting
Joanna paints ‘en plein air’ on location, from the pristine beaches and rugged mountainsides of Cape Town to hilltops and jetties around the world.
Classical Art Training
Following three years of classical training at The Florence Academy of Art in Italy, Joanna has learnt the traditional academic methods of the 19th Century European Ateliers enabling her to heighten her contemporary paintings with a stroke of classical realism.
210 USD | 195 EUR
Oil on canvas, 20 cm × 30 cm x 2 cm, 2023.
A friend hosted her birthday at Woolley's Tidal Pool in Fish Hoek. A secret tidal pool, often not known by locals, and only discovered by me a few years ago! I painted two paintings on this morning - one of the tidal pool itself (as a gift to my friend), and the other of this view looking across False Bay towards Franschhoek. I am always amazed by how quickly the light on the water moves as the sun rises. One moment it's shockingly, piercingly bright white light, and the next, it's a calm, demure light, almost imperceptible against the blue of the sea. I was happy to capture the light just before it faded, on this still morning.