Hi Im Charl Marais, a born and bred, proudly South African and in my book African guy in his late 50s or as I would like to believe ‘ a little over half way with life on this wonderful planet’.

After crisscrossing the world for the past 30 years buzzing in and out over 40 countries I am glad to say I found what really makes me happy…. I eventually with no planning or preparation one Tuesday morning went searching for a mosaic group in Durbanville Cape Town I have read about online. After searching around the historic Rust en Vrede Art Galery in the centre of Durbanville and by sheer luck I walked in the backdoor of ‘Piet my vrou’ mosaic studios. I found it or as I came to feel, it found me. The looks on the ladies faces all busy with their mosaic pieces as I announced who I was and that I was merely there to see what they do, was quite something ( men were allowed but not plentyful). Well the next week I was back eager to try my hand and thus started the creative journey Im currently enjoying as part of my life.

I found myself in tiny ( sometimes less than a millimetre in size) shards of colorful pieces of glass and realised I am able to create art through the ancient art of pasting glass or tiles onto a variety of substrates. I am in a new place when I do mosaic. I find that while doing this wonderfull art I am in the moment more than I have ever been in doing something before. By looking at a picture or drawing and then recreating that which the eye observes onto glass or wood by following the basics of mosaicing I am able to create images as can be seen on this website. I quickly realised however how much easier and satisfying it is if one forms or has an emotional link to that which you create and thus spend some time experiencing the photo prior to pasting the first piece to the backing. Even though I love doing landscapes, historic architecture and pets, my gratest enjoyment lies in the often subtle shades of creating a portrait. Be it a toddler or a grandfather recreating the nuances of a human face is what I am about. I try to spend as much time as I can on doing mosaic while still seeing to the ever changing needs of our guests at the bnb in Durbanville. My other creative passions are my garden, cooking and artisan bread making and listening to music. My favourite genres are jazz and classical but sometimes bring out the old rock albums just to get the younger year adrenalin pumping again. I hope you will find some enjoyment in looking at my art and that it may even tempt you to try the art of mosaic making or to commission a piece of your favourite memories of life on this great earth we call home.