“WE’RE off to New Zealand again in August,” Middelburg painter Sonette Ols told Mid-Karoo Express when we asked her about the next big date in her diary. She glowed with anticipation as she talked of her involvement with training young New Zealanders to develop their creativity.
Since their son and his family settled in Korotoa (NZ North Island), Sonette and her husband have lived ‘half here and half there’.
We caught up with Sonette at her National Arts Festival exhibition in Grahams-town this week. This is her 25th festival and she still loves sharing her work and her techniques with visitors.
Sharing is the cornerstone of Sonette’s approach to life and art. She paints three new canvases every day at the festival so people can see how she does it. She is also willing to teach anyone (at no charge) who needs help or advice.
We found her sitting patiently with a student journalist explaining what makes an artist tick.
As always, her exhibition is a feast of colour with paintings large and small executed in a wide variety of techniques. Sonette has been painting with passion since her early teens so her drawing skills and command of paint and brush are truly awesome.
In another typically generous gesture, she invites her viewers to make an offer on any painting they fancy. She would rather share her work than have someone go home empty-handed and yearning for a piece they couldn’t afford.