Country Living in Southern Africa

The town of Bethal originated on a farm called Blesbokspruit. The name Bethal is derived from Elizabeth du Plooy and Alida Naude, they were the wives of the owners of the farm. (Wikipedia)

Bethal is a farming town, famous for potatoes, rye, sunflower and sorghum. It is also the home of Anet du Toit, a very talented South African artist.

Where do you work and live? I stay in Bethal and work from my studio at home.

Tell us a bit about yourself? Where I am today, as a full-time creator of fine art painting, residing in Bethal, South Africa, almost didn’t happen due to my high school art teacher’s harsh words “You’ll never make art a career” and her denying me the use of paint, allowing only pencils. I took her words to heart and instead expressed my love for art through leatherwork for the next 20yrs. Thanks to my friends’ and family’s encouragement, however, in 2007 I decided to pick up a brush and, without the help of an art instructor, I painted in my spare time. A friend stopping me from tossing my first work, which still hangs in her home, serves as a reminder of dedication to improvement. After trial and error, my artwork was finally decent enough to attract the interest of people, other than friends. Due to popular demand, I had to choose between being a leather-smith and becoming a full-time fine art artist. (I am excited to say that my paintings now hang in homes in America, Norway, Switzerland, Mexico, Australia, Texas, as well as New Zealand, and I look forward to where future travels will take us.) The idea of breaking away from this familiar and secure trade to make a name for myself in a new realm of art, which would present different challenges, was as exciting as it was daunting. So here I am today living my dream, being a full-time artist, constantly defining and re-defining my approach with oils, whether it’s my choice of subject or various requests from clients, each piece is viewed as an exciting challenge and opportunity for growth as I reach to learn more. I will work to improve, something that is done daily with each canvas.

What is your favourite part of being an artist and working from your home-studio? The fact that people choose me as an artist and then to witness their excitement when they receive one of my paintings. Also that I can work from home, on my own time and between the people whom I love and that I can be there for them when they need me, counts a lot.

 What does a typical day in your life look like? When I get up in the morning, my husband makes breakfast. Then he and my two sons, who all work together, go out to work. I then do a quick touch-up to the house, go through messages and view some other artists work on Facebook for inspiration. For the rest of the day, I will paint until everyone comes home. We all cook dinner together and I spend some more time in the studio after dinner. It would not have been possible to spend so many hours in studio without the chats of other artists. Facebook makes the world smaller and I am so thankful for that.

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Anet says: “One of the greatest gifts my husband Andre offers me is being able to see the expression on his face when he walks into my studio and catches a glimpse of the canvas on my easel, be it a silent nod of approval or a wide-eyed look of surprise and shock when I try something new and the relief on his face when he sees it worked out after all.“

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So long as you strive to develop purpose or passion you will find no failure, for that comes from never trying. Every moment you invest in reaching forward earns varying degrees of success, some sweeter than others yet each reveals a personal accomplishment. If there were but only one message to share that I have learned through painting, it’s this ‘If you ever doubt who or how you are it’s time to see yourself through the eyes of those who love and care about you’  

This year I will be offering one-on-one art lessons. I am fully booked for the most part but still have open spots here and there. The theme of the lessons will be “wet-on-wet portrait painting” I am really looking forward to those lessons.

You can follow Anet on the links below:

 Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/anetdutoit/

Facebook/ Facebook page:   https://www.facebook.com/anetartist/?ref=bookmarks

Other: http://www.paintingsilove.com/artist/anetdutoit