Rudolph Clench decided on painting for a living after retirement

Rudolph Clench has been on the road for the past 20 years, stopping to capture images on the canvas and selling it to those interested. He has a fixed address near George where wife Erica, awaits his return from sojourns across the country. “She does not like it, but we have to put food on the table,” Rudolph ruefully admitted. This pensioner from Transnet had to find an income as the court proceedings against his former employer have not yet been finalised. His work involved laboratory testing in both the electrical and mechanical fields. “It can be compared to an SABS for the railways,” he said. Rudolph took lessons for three years from an Italian teacher, Carlo Sdoya way back in Johannesburg to find expression in his realistic impressionism, for want of a better word. “I was influenced by artists such as Thinus de Jongh, Chris Tugwell and Harold Boyes,” he said. “They certainly lit my fire.” Rudolph prefers oil for his fine brush strokes as acrylics dry too fast and blending can not sometimes be done properly. He has been living in Standerton for the past month after staying in Volksrust, Underberg and Kokstad. His means of transport is a 1981 Jetta which sometimes leads to scathing conclusions. “I have been called a tramp, beggar and ‘kansvatter’,” he added. “The traffic cops furthermore, love my car in the lock down and I can’t drive back to George now.” The first impression of him in his painting clothes and not Sunday-best adds to the picture. He washes his set of clothes every Sunday morning and puts on the other available one. “I drive the back-roads and have come across wonderful places that tourists can only dream of.” He stays wherever accommodation beckons and would even pitch a tent in certain circumstances. You guessed quite correctly, he has been in the army. Rudolph joined the South African Defence Force in 1963, worked as field sapper in places such as Angola and left in 1980. “Ek kan vasbyt’,” Rudolph jokingly said. The man that was born on Guy Fawkes Day in Johannesburg in 1942 has four children and two grandchildren. He is an early riser and once the birds begin their morning rituals, he is up and about. The Nelson Mandela Foundation commissioned him for a portrait as well and Dr Franklin Sonn was the man who arranged it. This painter will be on the road again soon to towns such as Bethal, Waterval-Boven and Mbombela (Nelspruit) for views on homesteads, nature and people, meeting people from all walks of life. Rudolph Clench is not yet road-weary.