MY SANCTUARY

Sandra draws much of her inspiration from the Albany Thickets, an ecoregion of dense spiny scrubland and low forest concentrated in the Eastern Cape. It is a wild, uninhabited place that offers her endless opportunities for exploration.

Sandra sees the mystery and magic of this untamed landscape. Playful moments in time and imagination are caught in her drawings, etchings, oils and watercolours, which consist of many small focal details as opposed to one obvious single view.

She re-interprets on-site sketches and photographs in a way that is different from a purely realist rendition of the subject, and the fine details in her works imbue them with an ethereal quality. “I want people who cannot reach the places that I do, to explore the quietness of them through my work,” she says.

Sandra doesn’t deliberately look for subject material but rather journals expeditions into the Albany Thickets and time spent in her lush garden.

“Sandra’s works are vivid and structured, tonally balanced and formally poised, succeeding in capturing something mystical in her Eastern Cape landscapes.” Andrea Jonker-Bryce, Daily Dispatch

“There is a sense of tranquillity and mystery in Sandra’s drawings and paintings, inspired by the indigenous forests in and around Bathurst.” Marion Whitehead, Country Life

ARTIST

Sandra Thomas