Frans the Painter’s journey grew and evolved out of many years as Frenske Otzen the Photographer

I guess I’ve always been creative, from school days, playing with an old camera and Black and White film, to a professional photographer with my own business, photographing people, things and beautiful places.

I am inspired by the beauty and the ever changing light of where we live here in the Cape. I’m not shy when it comes to the words ‘bold’ and ‘colour’! My hand writing is big and sprawly, and messy too, and I find it hard to paint neat and small. Every painting I create is a learning curve for me, even the ones I am painting beyond my class work.

I kick started the creative journey, in 2023, learning all the very basics of oil painting, and then moved, after one year, to a more formal Impressionist realism.

As the ‘gallery’ on the mantelpiece grew, (our big lounge is now my studio!) and overflowed onto the floor, I knew I needed to show my work to the world around me. So after the baptism of two group exhibitions and realizing people really enjoyed what I loved creating, and then seeing my work framed in people’s homes, I knew I had found my place in this new creative journey.