"The fever of artistic creation was upon him-all the old desires and the old exhausting joys. His genius had been lying idle, like a lion in a thicket, and now it had sprung forth ravening." -Arnold Bennett. "Buried Alive"

Whether it was a lion in a thicket or the mightily expansive views, towering clouds and haunting trees, of Lion Sands game reserve, I came back from my residency on 30 December 2026, refreshed and inspired.
If you would have asked me as little as a year ago, if I would ever try my hand at landscapes, I would have said "No".
I sometimes had the feeling of witnessing something which I never even knew could exist. Everyday was a surprise. The insects I saw! The landscape changing from dusty dry to luscious green, teeming with newborn animals. The loudness of it all. The visceral fear. The hugeness of it all.
And, the tininess...

"Any time but here any place but now", is a phrase that I clearly remember from varsity, in connection with the Romantic era. Search the internet as I would,  Google or Duck-duck AI gave back song lyrics  containing similar words and patronizingly explained to me the meaning of the obverse: "There's no time like now, there's no place like here".
Was this a fake memory? I  explicitly remember being taught the correct phrase as quintessentially Romantic.

After going through many rabbit holes, I found my answer as: While not existing as a formal quote during the Romantic era, the quote "Any time but here. any place but now" is frequently used by modern historians and scholars as the official "creed" or motto to describe the Romantic movement's spirit.

I can't help juxtaposing it against the popular contemporary "being in the now".

It was verbalising the unease towards industrialization and reason of the time and longing for an Arcadian world of the past or for an unknown exotic place. A fleeing towards, not away from that awe inspiring nature that I experienced. The Romantic era announces the dawn of depicting landscapes solely for what they were. Not as a back drop for some historical or mythological tale.

A week after my return to Gauteng, the weather always threatening, became out of hand. Neighbouring Kruger Park was flooded and Sabi Sands shared in the losses. Some corpses were found - a lion, a hippo, and there were no way to gage the loss to the more fragile animals and insects.
As I was lying in my hospital bed, friends sent videos of devastation.

Why I chose to name my major residency work "Before the storm II", I have no idea.
The concept of storm, could be a figurative one. Something bursting fourth unexpectedly. Before: the slow tension of waiting for something to happen, that we know must come. To quote a classic, for those of us who are old enough to remember.
Boy: "Allá viene una tormenta!"
Linda Hamilton: "What did he just say?"
Petrol attendant: "He said there's a storm coming in"
Linda Hamilton: "I know"