About

Tracy Algar is a contemporary landscape artist based in Hermanus in the Whale Coast / Overberg area of South Africa. She works mostly in acrylic paint, collage and mixed media on paper and canvas. 

Tracy’s deep love of her environment inspires her work. She likes to paint outdoors to capture not just what the landscape looks like, but also what it feels like to spend time out in the landscape in all types of weather. 

Her work can be found in private collections in South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, England, Wales, The Isle of Man, France, Germany, Canada, the USA and Australia.

Artist Statement

I live in the Overberg  and am inspired by the mountains, cliff path and the plants, and other nature around me. I watch the changing seasons in the farmlands and enjoy the colours and marks that I see.

I take a sketchbook and some paints along when I go out into the landscape  and make little paintings of the experience of where I am.

I use marks and colour to represent the feeling of a place, and my experience of being there rather than what it looks like. Some of the marks are random and some have a specific repetitive form. They are my marks, representing the way I see and feel things.

Time happens in layers, all at the same time, stretched out over history. In my representations of landscapes, I use layers. Each layer reveals more in its colours and shapes, adding intrigue and interest. I capture emotions, the weather, my experience and the passage of time in colour and line. They are gestural interpretations of time and place. Each layer reveals more in its colours and shapes about how I connect to the landscape and how it connects back to me.

I start the painting process en plein air (on location) and then finishing them in my studio, with sketches, beginnings and my memories of the place as my guides. I prefer not to work from photographs. I use my sketches to create new compositions in collage, some of which inspire larger artworks in the studio.

My latest collection is inspired by the landscape of the Overberg. I play fast and loose with colour and line, expressing my dialogue with the landscape. Nature sparks my expression. I want to share with the viewer the energy of the place, responding to the experience of the place with colour and line. I invite the viewer to experience the artwork emotionally as well as visually.