Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus

QUESTION 2.    When portraying cultural figures like Mandela or Mother Teresa, how do you approach honoring their legacy without slipping into idealization?

• ANSWER 2.    Having a technical background, I tend to want to create my artworks exactly as I see them in a photo. They are just normal human beings such as you and I and may or may not have done extraordinary things in their lifetimes

Dalene Smit
Mixed-Media Artist

MEDIUM:  oil, stained glass, other mediums

BIO:    I live in Cape Town, South Africa. I worked as a telecommunications technician for 40 years. I took early retirement at the start of Covid and started painting in oils and also continued mosaics which I had done for many years. I like to create art of anything that I find beautiful. Often my own photos but also ask permission of photographers who post on Facebook where I also post my art.

FACEBOOK:    Smitd8

QUESTION 3.    Mosaic surfaces catch and reflect light in constantly changing ways. How important is the viewer’s movement and shifting perspective to the final experience of your work?

• ANSWER 3.     I love to work with stained glass as I feel it is alive. When looking from different sides of an artwork, the light and shades change all the time. It is also important to me that the viewer can touch the glass. Many different pieces of glass have different textures. It makes it far more interesting. I have recently also started using fabric as a background, such as velvet. It enhances the entire experience.

QUESTION 1.    Working in both stained glass mosaic and oil painting requires very different kinds of patience and planning. How do you decide which medium is right for a particular subject or story?

• ANSWER 1.    When deciding on a piece of art to do, I normally choose the simpler pictures to do in stained glass. I will also sometimes do the main subject in glass and paint the background scene to keep the focus on the main object. When I paint in oil, I am able to work much bigger and more accurately. The glass colors are normally more limited and I have to make do with what I have. It adds interest.

Nelson Mandela, mosaic, size A3, stained glass

All copyright and reproduction rights are reserved by Dalene Smit.
Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.

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Splash Seascape, painting, size 800 x 600 cm, oil

Jimmi Hendrix, mosaic, size 24 x 24cm, stained glass with velvet background