The year went by without much else happening

The year went by without much else happening. Christmas in Australia is hot, so we headed for the north coast for our holiday. A place called Avoca. While there I happened upon a local artist who advertised painting 'your story' meaning, painting things that were uniquely special to you. A scene, a view, a place, a room, A POOL!! So, when I returned home I emailed him and asked about him painting a picture of my pool, in the backyard.

After emailing to and fro for a couple of weeks Mike decided to travel down to Sydney to see this pool of mine. I have to admit I felt a bit stupid by this stage and began not only questioning my sanity but also began eyeing my pool quite critically now that it was to be looked at through the eyes of an artist. I was embarrassed and virtually told Mike to forget it, it was special to me but in ways that were not really visible. Mike insisted on coming down though, and down he came one afternoon. We talked for most of the afternoon about this and that and my preoccupation with Norman Lindsay and swimming pools. Too late to begin the painting, so Mike returned the following day.

Well, the heavens opened up for the entire day and poor Mike, under the shelter of an outdoor awning, painted until it was finished. It was quite difficult as the rain did not let up at all and my poor pool looks a lot better with the sun filtering through the trees etc., but all in all the painting captured the day.

Mike painting the pool in torrential rain

Me with the finished painting

Meeting Mike turned out to be quite serendipitous and a good friendship developed between us. Turned out he wasn't the struggling young artist I had imagined he would be when I first spied his paintings hanging in Avoca. His ancestry goes back to a grandfather who was quite well known and respected in the art world and who also, to my delight, mixed in company with Norman Lindsay and those of that genre. Mike himself is well known in the film world for his documentaries and it was during one of his films, Vincent and Me, that he picked up the brush and challenged himself to paint all the van Gogh paintings he needed for the film.

I've recently completed a website for him and you should do yourself a favour and visit it. His paintings are lovely. Fresh and sunny with lots of happy colours.

So, that is the saga of my Mini Springwood and all that has eventuated from it and my interest in Norman Lindsay. It has been at a standstill since the painting as winter approached and there wasn't much to do other than enjoy the view from the kitchen window. However spring will be here soon and, I'm sorry to say, the plants still haven't taken too well, so I might just be out and about in the garden again very soon to liven it all up again. It continues to give me immense pleasure.