Errol's a real charmer, not at all your archetype reclusive artist, but at age 87 with peripheral vision in one eye!

'I don't know why people see that as useful' he snorts – and rapidly failing sight in the other, he feels a sense of urgency. Not of time, but rather the quality of that time, for he's not only a consummate realist, but has, inadvertently, built a reputation on his uncanny ability to see beyond the scene into the heart of the light. His skies are justifiably legendary. He'd scoff at such naivety – that's what artists do, he'd say. Nevertheless, ask those collectors who own 20 or so of his paintings, and you'll get the same answer. His light outshines others.

His mother died when he was 13 and the three boys were raised by their father, a steam locomotive driver and later a driver on electric mainline passenger routes, who largely worked night shifts. Supervision of the boys was scant, which gave the, at best, free-spirited Errol a licence to rampage his way through a series of escapades – and schools. His only love at school was art and in his first year at Merchiston Preparatory school, aged eight, he won a scholarship to study drawing at the (then) Natal Technical College.
After a year at St Charles school, he was 'asked to leave'. A year later, Pietermaritzburg College made the same request after the 13-year-old Errol and a friend headed off unannounced for four days to the Valley of a 1000 Hills, to explore 'darkest Africa'.

After a few more subsequent brushes with the law, the welfare authorities suggested to Errol's father that trade school might be a good idea. He was sent to Emmasdal Industrial School, partly trade, largely a detention school for delinquent boys. After absconding for the sixth time, Emmasdal's wish of not wanting Errol back 'even on a gold plate' was finally granted, and he was dispatched on an open ox wagon to Delager's Drift Agricultural School, near Sabie. Here, boys stayed in military bell-tents and Errol's new job was to paint rondavels.
His two great loves gradually became interdependent and today Errol describes that latter period as the time his awareness of atmospheric conditions sharpened.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, 21-year-old Errol enlisted. Ironically, the army discipline, responsibility and, ultimately, the respect of his peers proved to be a turning point in his life. When Errol was discharged because of an erratic heartbeat, he began playing for a dance band. By day, he attended drawing classes at Durban Technical College – apart from his school days his only formal art training ever.

While he played at night, by day he also scoured art galleries and exhibitions. He bought himself an easel, canvasses and paints and began painting. A fellow musician was overheard to say:
'This fellow is besotted with painting and he has no idea. Have you seen him – he's got one of a duck flying with only one wing.' Errol knew he had to give up everything else to focus solely on painting.

It was in Knysna that Errol met his mentor, the Englishman W G Wiles, who had moved to South Africa for health reasons and, like many artists, chose this idyllic spot to set up home. Errol knew and admired his work and he absorbed and implemented everything the artist said.

In 1950 Errol met and married Aileen Tozer and it was she who brokered his first real sales: miniature oils on tiny easels. She sold 100 in a single day at her office. When the Boyleys returned to Knysna, Errol recalls an order for two gross miniatures on easels but the gallery owner ran out of space to store them. Errol then began work on larger paintings. After six years, the Boyleys left for Johannesburg. His first one-man exhibition was at the Herbert Evans Gallery where he sold a couple of paintings and garnered a few fair reviews. As a result, Everard Read approached him for another one-man show. His reputation grew.

A certain 'L.L.' of Art News said: 'There is nothing avant-gard about Errol Boyley's paintings. He makes no attempt to be "modern" or "breakaway". He paints his feelings into the way his waves spray against rocks and his horses stand and graze. But it is motion with repose at its core.'
Errol and Aileen moved to Ramsgate on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast and, after 27 years together, divorced. Errol remarried, and together with his new wife Jocelyn – herself an accomplished artist – opened The Errol Boyley Gallery. It was the first of a number of galleries, notably Bordeaux Street Gallery in Franschhoek and recently, Peregrine Gallery, at their home in Winterskloof.

Behind Errol's art studio, is a fully equipped private recording studio with a little annexe. The walls are covered with rack upon rack of Errol's collectable guitars in mint condition – 23 at last count. The bright glint in his eye reveals these are his true weakness.

Fifty-five years of Errol Boyley's work is found in collections worldwide, the Reserve Bank in Pretoria housing one of the largest with 15 pieces in all. Over the years, many have tried to pigeonhole Errol's work into a specific genre, but he avoids that, preferring to say he tries to achieve tranquility and a convincing 'feel' of light.

Or better still, he recalls what W G Giles once said to him: 'If you need words to explain a painting, you may as well write a book.