Rock formations

23 April 2026

Step-by-Step - Level ◆◆◆

As many of you probably know, I'm currently in South Africa visiting family and spending time in old haunts that are very close to both my husband's heart and mine — places we visited as students, where we climbed and camped and had all sorts of adventures.

One of the places we recently went back to is called the Valley of the Red Gods, in the Western Cape. It's full of incredible rock formations — towers made of red sandstone — and it's a beautiful place to wander through, hopefully without getting too lost!, and to go rock climbing. We spent a lot of time here when we were young, and it was lovely to return, this time not only to climb some of the routes we remembered, but also with my sketchbook.

I spent a lovely morning sketching some of the rock towers on location, and then thought it would be wonderful to share that with you. So I redid the sketch, with the aim of capturing the rocks, the beautiful sky, and some of the shrubs — called fynbos — which are really distinctive of the area.

I'm happy to share this little piece of my holiday with you.

Happy painting!