Postcard from an artist

This week's photo prompt shows a group of people painting by the waterfront. 

 We have sometimes come across people painting 'en plein air' and I thought I might possibly have had a photograph somewhere that showed them in the background, but it seems not, so instead I've included this postcard that I found a couple of years ago at a store that was selling antiques, bric-a-brac and curiosities. On the front is a pen sketch by Leonardo da Vinci entitled "Study of flowing water".The original of this work is part of The Royal Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

What I am more interested in is the writer's note on the back, because the author is the well-known Australian painter Clifton Pugh, 1924-1990, writing from London to his friend Marie back in Arthur's Creek, Victoria Australia. She was the widow of a prominent Australian writer but I won't identify her further as she may still be with us, as is Pugh's third wife Judith. 

10.9.76

"Hello, some good news - the painting 

of Prince Phillip is going well. I'm

 painting in the grand Reception room of Windsor Castle. I did a

 portrait of Judith in the gilded

 air, and when Phillip saw it,

 it was the one he wanted 

so Judith is now "in the possession

 of", along with two landscapes

 of mine that he has had 

for some time. 

Love from us,

 Clifton"

I can picture Clifton sitting there with his easel and painting equipment in those grand surroundings. He had previously painted portraits of many famous Australians. It appears that HRH Prince Phillip did not keep the painting, as it is now held in the art gallery of Benalla, a Victorian country town a couple of hours north of Melbourne. Unfortunately there's no image online, and Benalla is a bit too far for me to go check it out specially, although next time we're passing that way I may stop for a look, and perhaps if it is on view, I might offer the postcard to the gallery.

You can read an article written by Judith Pugh about Clifton here  on the Australian National Portrait Gallery web site.  The piece is illustrated by a painting of Judith in 1976, which may well be the one referred to as being 'in the gilded air' by Clifton in his postcard to Marie.  Another portrait included with the piece is that of the late Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt, with whom, according to Judith, Clifton was to have gone skin diving on the day that Holt mysteriously disappeared. Pugh had cancelled the arrangement because it was his birthday and a birthday lunch was planned. In a blog last year I wrote about the mysterious death of Harold Holt on 17 December 1967.  If Clifton had not cancelled, perhaps the tragedy that unfolded that day might not have occurred.

 I've written previously  about my uncle Graeme Morrison and my distant cousin John Petrie who were both artists, and have also made mention of my grandmother Mona Forbes who attended art school in Christchurch NZ. Another distant cousin Charlotte Petrie studied at the Slade School of Art on London in the 1920s.  Here is an article about Miss Petrie's impressions of the Slade School, published after her return to NZ. We have one of her paintings.

Sunset on the Estuary at Invercargill, by Charlotte Petrie

 Below is the only photo I can offer of anyone actually painting at an easel, or in this case a blackboard. It shows one of our young sons and was taken back in 1984. Unfortunately I can't tell you that he went on to show any inherited artistic talent, but I'm sure he enjoyed himself at the time!

For more blogs about artists at work or at play, visit Sepia Saturday #356

Postscript: Years ago I did a photography class at a centre where a life drawing class was taking place at the same time, and we had to walk around the artists to get to the darkroom. Unfortunately we were not permitted to photograph the artists and their models as we passed by. I expect it was the models rather than the artists who didn't want to be photographed.

Itinerant artists and street perfomers I have known

I have no photos of monkeys, itinerant or otherwise, and was almost not going to post this week, but then the concept of itinerant workers made me think of my uncle Graeme Morrison and another more distant relative, Jon Petrie,  both of whom were accomplished artists who painted for their living at certain times.  

Jon Petrie was a son of Frank Petrie and grandson of Jessie Petrie, who was the sister of my great grandfather Charles Murray Cruickshank.  I've written about Jessie previously. Jon worked in various parts of the world as a photographer and columnist, but he was also a mural painter, and I understand that he would not infrequently offer to paint something for the hotel or place he was visiting in return for his accommodation.  Here is an example of one of his works, which was painted in situ at the Reef Lodge, Sigatoka, Fiji. This establishment doesn't appear to exist any more, so presumably neither does the mural.

Here's another of his paintings, this time of boats somewhere. Boat owners would no doubt also be interested in a painting of their prized possessions, but this may or may not have been painted for that reason.

Below is a snap of my Uncle Graeme's studio, which he built in the back garden of his parents' family home in Christchurch New Zealand, c. 1951. That may be Graeme sitting on the step, together with his mother Mona and his sisters Pat and Jean.

The caption to this newspaper clipping describes how Graeme would pay his way when travelling in the USA, by painting houses and then offering to sell them to the owners. I'm not sure if he painted them first and then asked the owners if they would like to buy them, or if he painted on commission, but it could have worked both ways. His mother noted at the top of the clipping that they got a great surprise to find the photo in their local Christchurch paper, the Star, one night in the late 1950s.

Graeme and his wife Ann settled in California but at one stage in the 1970s or 1980s  they decided to return to NZ. To do this Graeme held a garage sale to get rid of his remaining artwork, so my mother who happened to be visiting them at the time bought the following three paintings and drawings.  They subsequently returned to California, where Graeme passed away in 1988. Consquently his family have very few paintings, but hopefully some of his work still graces the walls of some attractive Californian homes.

Street performers in the family

Our son Kim taught himself to juggle at age 10 and it wasn't long before he became quite skilled at juggling balls (5/6), clubs, rings, knives, fire torches etc. His older sister Claire picked up the balls soon after, and little sister Laura did likewise a few years later. Our other son Strahan took a while longer but now he too can juggle 3 balls quite well. It's very good for coordination and even I could do the basic juggle at one stage. So here for your entertainment are a few collages of family juggling shots from the 1990s in various guises and locations. Kim sometimes earnt himself pocket money by busking at Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour. He and Claire joined a juggling club in the city where they learnt club passing, numbers and all sorts of complicated juggling tricks.

Unicycling seems to go with juggling, so that was the next skill to be mastered, and then came unicycle hockey, which looks chaotic but is fun to play and to watch.

We even attended a week long juggling convention in Las Vegas in January 1996 while on holiday there (photos on left of 3rd collage). Some of the artists who performed nightly at the hotels would come and join in with the amateurs after they finished their acts each night. The three centre shots were taken at Darling Harbour in Sydney, where Claire and her brother earnt money teaching juggling to passers-by at a juggling booth during a couple of school holidays. Top right is a line-up with cousins in Paihia NZ, although only two of the kids could actually juggle at this stage, but the others had fun trying! Kim showed his school mates how to unicycle and Claire had a few jobs as a juggling clown at children's parties. These days Laura is a primary school teacher, and she occasionally brings out the unicycle and balls to give the kids a demonstration, but otherwise the clubs, knives, rings, diabolo and unicycles are here in the shed or attic, just waiting for the next generation to come along and have a go, whenever the time is right.

Performing and busking, 1996. B&W photos taken and developed by yours truly.

Now for more performers, artists, monkeys and other entertaining takes of all kinds on the topic this week , just click here.

                          ps. I'm not sure that moneys can really juggle, but here is one that makes a pretty good attempt!  

And finally, as a couple of people have expressed an interest in my Uncle Graeme's shed painting, which has been hanging on my wall ever since my mother gave it to me in the 1980s, here is another one that you might also like, which my brother owns. Neither are for sale, sorry to say. I understand that Graeme's children don't have any of their father's work, so perhaps I will leave mine to one of them.