Kelly TwinePainter · Cape Town

I'm a self-taught South African painter, living and working in Cape Town, and a physiotherapist by day. I'm inspired by South African landscapes in particular, and I find so much beauty in them. Every scene I paint is one that had an impact on me, and the painting is my own interpretation of it.

Colour is where I take liberties. I don't paint what was in front of me; I paint the feeling it gave me, in colours that aren't realistic, and sometimes in a slightly surreal way. There's a line from the Stoics that has stayed with me: the mind takes on the colour of its thoughts. A painting isn't a record of a place, it's a memory of one.

What I'm after most of the time is serenity. I experiment with colour until I find colours that work together in a harmonious way, so the painting gives me the same sense of peace the place did.

I love texture. I work mostly in oil and acrylic, but I enjoy other mediums too, and mixing them: ink, charcoal, oil pastel, sgraffito, monoprint. I like building up layers, often in thick impasto. Landscape is a special interest of mine, but I'm not limited to it.