Jenny Parsons
Jenny
Parsons is an urban landscape painter working mostly in oil on canvas and chalk
pastel.
The city
of Cape Town, with its areas of pristine nature interlocking with dense human
habitation, provides a rich and diverse engagement for this artist. Parsons'
paintings of Cape fynbos, the vegetation that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula,
are a significant part of her exploration of brush mark, colour and light.
"For
me, a landscape painting is not merely a visual representation of the world. It
is a metaphor for the human condition, in all its mystery. I paint to try to
make sense of the fragility of our world, the passing of time, and our shared
experiences of light, air, colour and space. Painting the land continues to be
a way of engaging with the strangeness of being here".
The series of pastel drawings for
The Making Practice exhibition depict the house and valley in which Parsons has
lived for the last six years. The house, with its thick walls and sash windows,
is an 1860’s farm house in the Swartland town of Riebeek West. Jenny says
“these drawings are a sentimental and tender farewell to a very important time
in my life, and a special home”.
