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| "Nkosi's Warrior" 2007 Oil on Canvas Board 12x16" |
My First Painting:
I began with nothing in mind, or any forethought on what to paint, but rather I simply had a desire to paint. This desire had been swept under the rug in place of more important life endeavors. Yet, it long remained a dormant yearning, whispering to my soul, pleading to be given freedom to express itself. The day came that I decided that the time had come to free the artist within. I bought an instructional book and began to study, to teach myself the craft. Shortly thereafter I bought a few tubes of colour, brushes, and canvas. (My beginning palette consisted of Ivory Black, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, and Cobalt Blue.) I put on some Jazzy Nora Jones, and I painted. I experimented with mixing colours and medium. I experimented with brush strokes, getting a feel for how the brush felt in my hand and how it responded to the paint. (It may be interesting to note for those who are not aquatinted with the intimate details of oil painting that not all colours of paint respond in the same way. For example, alizarin crimson, my favorite tube colour, has the consistency of butter, where as lemon yellow has the consistency of honey. Over time an artist will develop an understanding of the character of each colour on his palette, yet despite this understanding there are infinite combinations of how an artist my choose to mix the paints on his palette, thus mixing paints becomes an art to itself.) "Nkosi's Warrior" evolved into what it is through my curiosity and learning. The title itself derives from the painted warrior. Nkosi is the isiZulu word for king, and as this is my surname and a name that I was often called when I was amongst the Zulus, the title becomes a symbol for the King's warrior, or in other words, my warrior. If you would like to take the symbolism further, the spear can be viewed as a brush and the shield a palette, the canvas the battle field. Early on I had considered including this warrior as part of my artistic signature to every piece of art, and although I decided against it at the time, I wonder at times if I should have chosen the other way.
