Jude Marganis

November 2023
Jude Marganis

My love of art started at a young age. In primary school, art was after lunch and I couldn’t wait to get into the classroom to see what wonders had been set up at my table, coloured paper, pots of paint , brushes, glue etc. What I thought I could create with all of that was unending! Well that wonder still continues today!
Both parents encouraged art with play, eg mum made her homemade playdough and had boxes of coloured pencils, whilst dad built my sisters and I a blackboard to draw on.
I continued with Art as my favourite subject up to year 12, and was lucky to have a good teacher, and a great text book, titled “The Story of Art” by E.H.Grombrich, which told the history of art from ancient times to the modern era.
After year 12, I worked as a public servant in the Department of Customs and Excise. Still loving art, I took life drawing classes in the evening with the CAE. In 1973, I travelled to London, where I worked and travelled around Europe, visiting art galleries, museums, churches, and all the tourist attractions. In 1978, I married and after my 2nd child I decided to join art classes again, so in about 1983, I enjoyed a class at the Essendon Community Centre, with the tutor, Paul McDonald Smith, a wonderful Tonal Impressionist painter, who is a well known artist today, being currently President of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society. I was so honoured to be awarded H/C at the recent Box Hill Art Group/WAA annual Exhibition, where he was the judge. I wouldn’t have imagined that 40 years later he would be judging my work.
I would put my two babies down for an afternoon sleep and go straight to my paints and brushes, and paint. I sold my first painting to a friend of my mother’s, which was very encouraging. I then started painting watercolour gift cards which I sold through a local shop and also at my stall at the Hawthorn Craft Market.

After my third child was born, I put my paints away for a while as I was so involved with their activities, and as they got older I joined the Whitehorse Arts Association in 2006, where my eyes were opened further under the tutor, Alan Close, I was amazed at his knowledge and his ability to pass it on to his students. I learnt so much, oil painting, watercolour, pastels, charcoal, pen and ink and I also went to his life drawing and portrait classes at Glen Park, where my daughter Danielle sat for us. Whilst still at Whitehorse, in 2009 I joined Malcolm Beattie’s watercolour class for one year, after which I shifted to his tonal oil classes at his Burwood Studio, then later at his Camberwell studio. There I was taught the Tonal Oil method, where I painted using only black and white for one whole year, painting portraits from John Singer Sargent’s paintings. I have 11 of my learning canvases always reminding me of tone. In between travels, I was in his class for 7 years. I’ve also enjoyed workshops with David Chen, Robert Wade and Craig Penny. I like to paint everyday scenes in an Impressionistic style, paying attention to design, patterns and colour. I often include figures and always look for light and tone.