2. Early Acrylic

1993-94

In December, 1992, I was strolling with my daughter, then aged 10, in Victor Harbor, and we went into the Lewitzka Old Telegraph Station Gallery.  Inside, I found two things:

1.  As we walked along a corridor, we came close to a room where Terry was painting in oils, and we both backed away from the pungent smell.  It struck me then that I could never paint indoors in oil, the effect on my family would be awful.

2.  After browsing through the gallery, we came to a small paint supplies shop, and there I saw acrylic paints for the very first time.  There were also various mediums, and copies of the technical booklet by Chroma paints, which I read in detail in the following days.  I found acrylics, with minimal toxic effects, could be suitable for using indoors at home.

It was perfect timing.  My children had reached the stage when my time was no longer needed of an evening, as it had been during their early years, and at that time my work didn’t occupy my evenings.

Over the next five years I spent most evenings painting at the kitchen table, and many lunch breaks were spent outdoors in the city with my pocket sketch book.