Around Kimberley

While I did not often manage to get out of 1 Military Intelligence base into the inhospitable semi-desert around Kimberley, apart from the odd route march, I did do a few sketches of my surrounds, including some watercolours.




Using watercolours is often fraught with failure, but sometimes you strike it lucky. I don't really like using super-absorbent watercolour paper, but prefer to paint on ordinary card, as I did here.

Using the same green paper as earlier, I think this drawing, while not great, does capture something of the stark quality of the terrain, where the koppies loom like distant waves in a sea of sparse, sandy, semi-desert.

While the area is very dry, when the summer afternoon thunderstorms come they bring vast quantities of water, which often lead to unusually verdant outcrops of organic growth, like this one, which stand in stark contrast to the otherwise flat landscape.

Here a koppie looms like a giant wave in the distance, offering at the same time a foundation for a tall communications mast.

I have no idea who lived in these humble homesteads near the base, but at least it showed there was life beyond those borders.

Drawn from the base rugby field stand, this is a view over buildings towards a water tower, with a koppie behind.