Title
DeadVlei - Namibia
Artist
Mary Sedici
Medium
Painting - Acrylic On Board
Description
Participating in SoJie12 Workshop - translating the wonderful photo of
Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos. I want to say a special thank you for the collaboration and his support
Deadvlei is a white clay pan located near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, inside the Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia. Also written DeadVlei or Dead Vlei, its name means “dead marsh” (from English dead, and Afrikaans vlei, a lake or marsh in a valley between the dunes).
Dead Vlei is surrounded by the highest sand dunes in the world, the highest reaching 300-400 meters (350m on average, named “Big Daddy” or “Crazy Dune”), which rest on a sandstone terrace. The clay pan was formed after rainfall, when the Tsauchab river flooded, creating temporary shallow pools where the abundance of water allowed camel thorn trees to grow. When the climate changed, drought hit the area, and sand dunes encroached on the pan, which blocked the river from the area.
The trees died, as there no longer was enough water to survive. There are some species of plants remaining, such as salsola and clumps of !nara, adapted to surviving off the morning mist and very rare rainfall. The remaining skeletons of the trees, which are believed to be about 900 years old, are now black because the intense sun has scorched them. Though not petrified, the wood does not decompose because it is so dry.
Wikipedia Article
Uploaded
July 14th, 2011
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Comments (14)
Kostas Koutsoukanidis
Beautiful piece dear Mary, I love the colors very much.
Mary Sedici replied:
Hello dear Kostas - how nice seeing you and reading your wonderful comment. Thank you so very much ♥•
Vladimir Kholostykh
I like many works of your collevtion. You are a master of color. mood and composition!
Mary Sedici replied:
Vladimir dear, your compliment found its place right by my heart. Thank you so very much for viewing my works and giving me such enormous credit :)
Mary Sedici
Thank you so much Jeffrey- you are right on, this painting is very different of what I usualy paint, and it was quite a challenge for me to accomplish it. I am very glad you like it :)
Dabrowski Waldemar
Very interesting...!!
Mary Sedici replied:
Hello Wal - on redbubble you can see it enlarged under in my last journal entry. Indeed, interesting landscape, and quite difficutl to paint without using any details :)) At a point I was so ready to add some green leafes :))
Evelina Popilian
Beautiful composition, Mary, and you have created such a lovely atmosphere with your description. Best wishes!
Mary Sedici replied:
Thank you Evelina for the lovely comment and whishes - same to you. I am very glad you like this paintig. Beside the photo I recreated, the description helped me a lot to visualize the valley.
Marsha Elliott
Beautiful complimentary color, just enough detail and excellent composition. The long horizontal format is perfect for this. This is definitely a winner!
Mary Sedici replied:
Thank you Marsha dear for this wonderful comment. It was not easy to settle about the colors, moreover to paint it without details. Unfortunatelly, I can't post here the photo I was translating (because the comments section is not recongnizing links or photos). Has same elements as my work, except it has fewer trees, and the view is not panoramic. Not beeing able to add small details - like clouds, or leaves, grass, etc, made this work even challenging. Instead, the colors had to do the work. I went throgh some stages of coloring, finally I settled to this one; which I am very glad because on rb I received already tones of posititve comments :)
ANA MARIA EDULESCU
Wow ! Mary, this such an amazing painting...... the feeling of solitude rendered here is so powerful. Love it, love it..... all those trees are so well done. I really like the mystical quality in this painting. Fav and vote. _ Ana
Mary Sedici replied:
Thank you Ana for this wonderful comment. Also it appears an easy subject, it was quite challenging to paint. Thanks for the fav and vote; as alawys, your support is greatly appreciated ♥•