Although I started my working life as a school teacher, passion has always been art and creative ventures. As a teacher, I would always paint on the huge windows in my classroom. Instead of handing out stars to children when they did work, I would draw a picture at the foot of each assignment they completed.
I didn’t really consider this to be art, I considered it to be ‘mucking around.’My more formal exposure to the arts and creative world was a Spinning and Weaving course in Rotorua. Over time I knitted garments for my family with my freshly spun wool, and created woven rugs and mats. The mats and handbags were sold through a local studio – Studio 66. I dabbled in pottery – but left this medium to some of my very talented friends, and also produced some copper art pieces including a large round beaten art piece that covered our fireplace and became a core art piece in our home for many years.
As I raised my three daughters in Cambridge, I was involved in organising a Luau, a Jungfu Ball, a Medieval Banquet and various other events for charitable organisations. My role involved convincing people to build props including replica life sized stocks, as well as personally painting huge works to decorate the halls for each event.I was also involved I organised and with my friends, ran a French Café for the Cambridge Arts Society annual exhibitions for a number of years. Other ventures that I was involved in were running the Cambridge Town Market Days for a number of years.Little did I realise that these were outlets for my creative talents, I considered them to be a lot of fun and a great way to get involved in fundraising and contribute to my community.
I have only been painting seriously for 20 years and over time settled on my style – which I will tell you more about in my next blog.I love the town of Cambridge, where I live walking distance from the town. My biggest critics are my three daughters as they are all individuals – they all have different tastes. One of my daughters states that her favourite most precious pieces are some of my first practice pieces and the modern bespoke paintings that I have done for her and her husband, while still enjoying my more traditional style.
Another of my daughters is also an artist, and while she is a fan of my art, her personal style is that of more modern mixed media art.
My other daughter enjoys my art, as well as modern New Zealand art.At the moment I am working on a painting for my daughter and her husband for the new house that they are building next door to me. They are hobby touring cyclists and their latest overseas cycle tour was through Vietnam and Cambodia
To give you an insight into how I work, this photo is of the start of a painting for them. Over the next blog posts, I will share photos of the development of the painting with you.In my next blog, I will tell you about my style and how I came to develop it.