About

I identify strongly with Frieda Kahlo’s famous quote not perhaps as she did in that she was describing her fear of loneliness and of death as the final separation. I believe that eighty years later there is an even greater need to preserve the natural environment, both for its sake and our own. 

For years I have enjoyed painting iconic indigenous South African plants such as Aloes and Proteas in all their various forms. Somehow this feels as if it is rather like the championing the large attractive threatened species while far more critically endangered plants and animals are left to fend for themselves, simply because they are tiny and not very photogenic – but no less important to the functioning of ecosystems.  

Over the last few years with all the pressures of the Covid pandemic I have focused on more local scenes. Looking instead at the small snippets of nature that survive in our largely urban world. The beauty of patches of what I would have previously dismissed as weeds growing in an un-mowed portion of our local park. The glorious display of flowers on a sidewalk on my morning run, the wonderful play of light and shadow across the street or over the grass, the sky reflecting in a roadside puddle. I am sure my work won’t help save our natural world in any meaningful way, but somehow the act of recording and celebrating what is there and managing to survive against the odds is satisfying in its own right. 

I hope you enjoy my paintings as much as I have enjoyed creating them. Most of my works are available for sale or if you see something that you like that has been sold I can always create something similar just for you.

I am based in Johannesburg but works can be couriered locally and overseas.

Liz Warren