Creating a Bonney Landscape: The Story Behind the Golden Gate Sandstone House Painting
As an artist, I find that my connection to a landscape deepens the more I experience it, not only through my eyes but also through my camera lens. This process allows me to capture moments that would otherwise pass by unnoticed. Since living in Clarens in the Eastern Freestate I’ve driven through the nearby Golden Gate National Park innumerable times, a place where time seems to slow down, and the land tells a thousand stories through its dramatic topography and changing light. It’s a place that is not just visually striking, but also holds a kind of quiet beauty that resonates deeply within. One of the most memorable subjects in my photographic collection from this area is an old sandstone house on the Qua Qua side of the park. It’s a structure that has captured my imagination over and over, inspiring innumerable photographs and, ultimately, one of my most recent paintings.
The Golden Gate Sandstone House painting I created for Nick and Nikki Goldblatt holds a special place in my heart. Nick and Nikki had been looking through my collection of South African landscapes when this particular house caught their attention. I’m sure it wasn’t just the house itself, but the connection they felt to the place. I’m thinking Nick, being an Eastern Free State local, maybe saw in it a reflection of his own roots, a reminder of the rugged beauty and the spirit of a corner of South Africa known so well to him. It was clear that the house would be the focal point of their “Bonney” painting—an image that would speak not only to the landscape itself but to the emotional connection they felt to the land and its history.
However, as with many artistic commissions, there was a challenge to overcome. The photo I had taken of the house didn’t quite fit the vision Nick and Nikki had in mind. The foreground of the image featured grass that had recently been burnt, creating a harsh, charred landscape that lacked warmth and life. The distant mountains, although majestic in their own right, were somewhat obscured by trees surrounding the house. Nick and Nikki, familiar with my work, had a particular vision in mind for the mountains. They wanted something more dramatic, a backdrop that captured the iconic mountain ranges that are a hallmark of my "Bonney" style—a combination of realism and the fantastical.
This is where the creative process took a typical turn. Instead of simply replicating the photograph as it was, I approached the project with the same flexibility and openness that I apply to all my works. It’s never my goal to recreate a photograph; rather, I aim to translate the essence of the scene into something new, something that feels both authentic and imaginative. To me, a painting should breathe life into the landscape, capturing its soul in a way that goes beyond what a camera can do.
The Artistic Process: Blending Reality with Imagination
To begin with, I had to decide how to address the issue of the burnt foreground. The charred grass wasn’t just visually unappealing, it also felt emotionally disconnected from a vibrant life that I always want to be evident in my paintings. I envisioned a scene full of vitality, one that conveyed the pulse of the land, and that meant finding a way to reimagine the foreground entirely. I created a more dynamic, more engaging composition by replacing the burnt grass with lush summer grass and shrubs—as if it were a few weeks later and after some early summer rains, that fresh new growth had grown out through the charred black giving the scene a more inviting, pastoral feel.
But the changes didn’t stop there. The house itself—old, weathered, yet standing resilient—remained the heart of the piece. However, to make the backdrop as compelling as the house, I needed to rework the mountains. In my mind, I could already see the sweeping lines of typical "Bonney mountains" rising behind the house, their striking contours and layers demanding attention. I removed most of the trees in the photo to reveal these mountains, crafting a silhouette that felt more in line with the iconic mountain imagery I’ve become known for. The end result is a marriage of real photographic elements and my own artistic vision, woven together into a seamless, imaginary landscape.
But creating a compelling foreground and altering the mountains was only part of the equation. To refine the piece it needed more depth—a narrative element that would give the viewer something to hold onto. In my work, I’ve always been drawn to subtle details that tell stories. As usual I introduced a few typically human elements to the scene. A winding road, a cattle gate and a road sign and, in line with Nicks brief…an element of actual figurative human presence and movement, so also, a local riding a bicycle through the landscape—all simple, everyday touches that would give the painting a sense of life, movement, place and presence.
These elements aren’t just decorative; they anchor the piece in reality. They tie the painting back to the South African landscape I know so well, where the rhythms of daily life are inextricably linked with the land. The gate evokes the idea of boundaries, the road sign suggests direction and journey, and the bicycle hints at the presence of a person, a human connection to the land that’s both fleeting and enduring.
The “Bonney” Style: Capturing Essence, Not Perfection
In crafting this painting, I was mindful of what it means to create a “Bonney” style landscape. It’s a style that doesn’t simply focus on the accuracy of a moment frozen in time, but rather on the emotional truth of a place. It’s about distilling the essence of the landscape, its atmosphere, and its spirit, then translating that into something new, something that feels like an authentic representation of the land, even if it’s not a direct copy of a specific photograph.
For me, the act of painting is as much about emotional connection as it is about visual representation. In this piece, I wanted to capture not just the physical characteristics of the Golden Gate area, but also the sense of peace and timelessness that the landscape imparts. The South African countryside, with its wide, open spaces and stark beauty, can evoke both a sense of solitude and a deep sense of belonging. These feelings are as much a part of the landscape as the rocks, the grass, and the sky.
When I work with clients like Nick and Nikki, it’s not just about fulfilling a brief—it’s about connecting with their own personal stories and weaving those into the fabric of the painting. This painting, like many others in my career, is a collaboration between my vision as an artist and their emotional connection to the land. It’s a dialogue between what I see and what they feel, and ultimately, it’s about creating something that resonates on a deeper level, both visually and emotionally.
A Personal Reflection on the Golden Gate Sandstone House
The Golden Gate sandstone house, in many ways, symbolises the resilience and enduring beauty of the South African landscape. Its weathered stone walls have withstood the harsh winds and the test of time, much like the land around it.
When I look at this painting now, I see not just a house and its surroundings, but a narrative of change and continuity. It’s a landscape that has been shaped by both nature and the people who call it home. It’s a place that tells its own stories, and I feel privileged to be able to share some of those stories through my art.
In the end, the Golden Gate Sandstone House painting is not just a reflection of a specific moment in time or a particular place—it's a testament to the power of landscape to evoke memories, stir emotions, and tell stories that resonate on a deeply personal level. For Nick and Nikki, I hope it’s a piece that connects them to their own history and heritage in the Eastern Freestate region of South Africa. For me, it’s a reminder of why I keep returning to the land, camera and brush in hand, searching for the stories that lie hidden in plain sight.
See the full image HERE