Commissions
I love creating a painting that has a special meaning or holds a special memory for a client. Commissions become a unique partnership between me and you, to capture something that is often deeply personal.
A view that you love that connects you to a special time and place. A memory that you treasure, a place that you love, a place that is part of you.
It would be my honour to create this special painting for you. One of my greatest joys as a Plein Air landscape painter is going to the place that you love, and finding the love you feel and capturing it for you. I so look forward to discovering your special place!
The usual process is:
We discuss your vision for your painting, and we confirm the painting size, specific view and your preference for time of day (for example, morning light, afternoon light, evening light).
I visit the location and - if the painting is larger than 30x40cm - usually I will create a smaller painting to confirm that you are happy with the composition and chosen time of day.
I will then complete the larger painting in alignment with our discussion. The timing for completion of your painting will vary depending on the size of the painting, the weather conditions and the complexity of the subject matter. We will discuss all of this and more as we plan the creation of your painting.
Please contact me to discuss your special painting. I truly look forward to creating your painting with and for you.
Testimonials
I created this painting for a dear friend who requested a painting of Hout Bay Harbour and its fishing boats. I could not have been happier, as Hout Bay is the village of my birth, and I have been visiting the Harbour since before I can remember, going to Snoekie’s to buy fish fresh from the boats just in from the early morning catch.
I painted this scene over three days, enjoying the evolution of the painting, and capturing different cloud effects depending on the day.
“Hout Bay is one of South Africa’s most scenic bays. I wanted to capture the essence of the bay and what better way than to capture the fishing boats in Hout Bay Harbour. I commissioned Jo to paint the Harbour scene for me because she is passionate about painting and is able to capture the beauty in her paintings. She diligently kept me updated of the commissioned piece. I highly recommend her to anyone looking to commission a painting.”
This painting was for a close family friend who used to travel this railroad outside The Wilderness (near George, in the Western Cape of South Africa) as a child. She wanted to capture this special memory. I travelled to The Wilderness to paint some sketches of the scene before completing the commission on a larger canvas in my studio.
The location for the painting was quite tricky, as the tide is usually very high, and there are only a few months of the year when the tide is low enough to paint from the desired vantage point. In addition, on any given day, the tide had to be out in order for me to stand on sand and not knee-high in water!
I spent a few days creating various painted “sketches” of the scene, for my client to review and confirm which view she enjoyed most. I imagined she wanted a blue-sky day, but the weather was not cooperating. After discussing with my client, it turned out a grey, overcast day was actually just what she wanted, as this is so typical of this part of the world.
With that information, I painted the final sketch, although I had to be quick, as the tide kept encrouching and I just managed to finish before my window to escape the incoming tide closed!
“I commissioned Joanna to paint the Kaaiman’s River old railway bridge, situated in Wilderness, South Africa, as it holds special memories for me: Sixty years ago, as a young child, I went over that bridge as the culmination of a three day train journey through what was then Rhodesia as well as Botswana and South Africa. How exciting that was! Joanna has captured its beauty exactly. I find her colours of the sea amazing and I’m so happy that I can look at this art work and remember that very special time.”
I created a painting of Devil’s Peak mountain in July - the middle of winter - in 2021. A close friend from childhood, now living in London, wanted a view of the Cape Town mountains to remind her of the land she grew up in. The first Devil’s Peak painting, created standing on the side of the Liesbeek River in Observatory , was our inspiration.
Returning to paint this same view at the end of summer resulted in a very different feeling - clear blue skies, and rich yellows and golds on the mountainside, as the grasses had transformed under the strong summer sun. This is one of the things I love most about plein air painting - the landscape is never the same - the time of year, the time of day, the presence of clouds or no clouds… All these elements combine to create a unique painting and a unique experience, every time.
“Joanna’s beautiful paintings bring familiar scenes to life in the most wonderfully evocative way. It is heart-warming to have some of my beloved Cape mountainscapes so vividly depicted on my walls in London.”