Fidler in the Hood: Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas

OKTOBER-FEST greetings – although there’s not a beer to be found in the house. The slippery slope seems to be getting ‘slippier’ these days: your scribe has not felt like this since playing the fiddle on the slippery deck when the Titanic was sinking.

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Maybe it’s because he’s fending and feeling sorry for himself whilst the CO is out of town. The can-opener doesn’t work and man cannot live by bread alone … on with the show.

Blank canvas?

A couple of weeks back, the new mural at Ramsgate Conservancy’s whale deck was referred to. Unfortunately time and space did not permit to write about the artists, Anita Dumas and Radmer Lenasch, who kindly donated their time and effort to paint the mural.

Alas, the ‘Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend’ Barbie Meyer got in the way; but eventually Anita and Radmer were cornered in their studio in Uvongo to explain what the ‘Blank Canvas Artists’ Guild’ was all about.

The first thing noted was their passion for art. But first things first – who are Anita and Radmer? Anita Dumas was originally from Delmas, which immediately brought to mind the old jazz number ‘A Ding-Dong Daddy from Dumas’, oh sorry – ‘Delmas’.

Anita prefers being termed a ‘local’. Fair enough. Besides painting, Anita is a qualified digital and graphic designer.

Travelling teacher

Radmer Lenasch is from Normandy, Irish, Finnish stock, although he hails from The Esplanade, Durban-by-the-docks. He travelled and taught English in South Korea, Taiwan and Cambodia and has a degree in English literature.

At the age of 21 he picked up a paint-brush and was immediately attracted to art, but watercolours, in particular.

Four years ago, he decided to go full time as an artist, with seascapes being his preferred subject.

Merry art-go-round

The couple met up at a Splashy Fen music and arts festival and not on a merry-go-round, but through the Art-Go-Round, a meeting group of like-minded artists sharing their ideas. They discovered they had an awful lot in common when it came to art and decided to form the Blank Canvas Artists’ Guild, based here on the Hibiscus Coast.

The guild is basically a meeting place where aspiring artists can get together through workshops, networking, and create working opportunities in their chosen art form. The guild kicked off in May and so far, so good, with promising results.

It was Radmer’s idea to paint and donate the whales’ mural at the conservancy’s clubhouse. For local yokels and out-of-towners, this is a must see mural. All credit to Radmer and Anita for their amazing talent and generosity. Only one word to describe it – beautiful. Many thanks, Anita and Radmer, we wish the Blank Canvas Artists’ Guild much success.

Rally round

About the conservancy itself – there is an urgent need for more local support. It would be a pity to lose the monthly Moondeckers’ get-togethers. This year’s Ramsgate Literature and Arts Festival has already been lost because of lack of sponsorship. Sad, but true.

It’s now a case of ‘Rally Round the Flag, boys and girls’. The Moondeckers is a wonderful monthly get-together with nice people, a beautiful full moon to bring out the romantic in everyone. Plus, delicious prego rolls with onions also bring out the real romance, too! Be there.

Better luck next time

Thoughts for this week (in the absence of the CO) – Does anyone still buy lottery tickets? Course, you do. Do you ever win? Course you don’t. Well, there is the most delightful lottery ticket vendor in Uvongo, whose owner happily tells you that you haven’t won this week.

The bad luck news is given with such a lovely, happy, smiling face, and so full of sincerity that one looks forward to rejection. You go away thinking that ‘next week I’ll win, for sure’. None of that big supermarket, indifferent, unsmiling, contemptuous, no-speaking, stony-faced assistant indicating you haven’t won, right?

Not winning the lottery this week (or any week) can be painful, but we live in a nice place, so who needs money? Answers on a postcard, please. See you, Rob.

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