Vale Margaret Olley and your beautiful clutter
27 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in life
Well I haven’t really had much time to think about the news today, other than to note the passing of Australian artist Margaret Olley. I have one of her very large prints in my study (that’s it on the left) and it hangs over my desk specifically for the purpose of reminding me that she was a wonderful artist with such a simple view of life . I aspire to have that as well.
As the years have gone on I got to know a bit more of her story. The parts that I remember were things like she lived in a chaotic house in Paddington, surrounded by all the clutter that she loved and things that she just wanted one day to paint.
By painting she breathed.
The other thing that I had remembered about here and I guess really extended my interest was the fact that she was in AA.
The other thing about her was that the house was so crazy and chaotic, that as she was nearly blind and very, very, frail, she had guide wires about the house to help and her visitors find their way from one room to the other. I love that mental picture of her guests feeling their way from one room to the other. Speaking of visitors that was another thing that I remembered. Barry Humpries was a great fan supporter and lover of her art. He spoke very fondly of her once in an interview and I wickedly drew the conclusion that he may have played some part in her recovery from alcoholism. Or maybe it was the other way about.
Anyway the other thing about Margaret Olley is that she always reminds me of my friend Helen Townsend. It’s so much in the facial characteristics’, although there are plenty of those to look at as well.
It’s more in the essence of them both. Mind you I have seen Helen many, many times and I’ve never seen anything other than a photo of Margaret Olley but I still sense a common essence in them both. Magnificent Talent I guess.
I loved Margaret Olleys’s paintings and I’m looking at one now. For some time I had this same print downstairs in my dining area and I loved to set up a mirror image of the still life she’s painted on the table underneath the painting.
Bowls of fruit, a teapot, flowers in a jug, I just got tremendous satisfaction copying her layouts and colors.
It is a magical painting and everyone commented on it when they came to the room. I read today that she liked to smoke, that really surprised me, I don’t know why. It just that she had such a tiny face it would be hard for a cigarette to look anything other than a giant comedic cigar.
A tiny, lovely face that I really wish I had met just once.
She would have found me really annoying. If I had visited here I would have had to tidy up. It’s a compulsion and I just think things look better tidied up or better still ,put away.
So there goes the still lifes. Fruit would be packed away, chipped plates thrown out, dead flowers tossed and cracked teapots put in the back of cupboards. Left to me her still lifes would be a gleaming white walls with well, absolutely nothing. Perhaps an ad for Ajax or bleach?
But I would have clung to the guide wires gropping from room to room breathing in the color of her life.
Vale Margaret OIley.
Can of Worms is a Can of worms
19 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in life
OK Pets. Blinked and you probably missed one of the greatest moments in Australian TV History. Just last night, on Channel 10′ new hit show “Can of Worms”, Ronnie Bendall slacked jawed on national TV while yours truly lectured the entire nation on truth and honesty in relationships. I’ve always had a natural talent for sussing out what people need to hear, and last night was no different. Nearly 900,000 people tuned in with the hope of hearing one of my deliciously famous “Life Talks” and they would have been deighted with the content, disappointed with the brevity.
More can be seen
http://ten.com.au/CanOfWorms.htm
