I think I have always loved Art and Craft. From
when I started school, getting to use crayons, doing
finger painting and especially playing with clay. I
loved it all.
When both my boys started school, I enrolled at
Koonung Cottage Community House, Blackburn
North. There I started spinning, macrame and
delved into Bark Art Painting. If I saw something I
liked I had to give it a go, like Tatting and Bobbin
Lace Making, which I had learnt from a lady in the
Barossa Valley, South Australia.
Then a class started up run by Bob Nichol in which
he taught drawing and the art of Cartoon drawing.
After a while of doing that, which was great, we
made lots of Christmas gift cards with funny little
Santas on them among other things. He suggested
I needed to use colour, so with my close friend Lois
Clarke we enrolled at the The Avenue Community
House in Blackburn South, where we were taught
the art of Oil Painting. I was hooked, it was great.

After 2-3 years we had to look for another venue, so
we went to Mitcham Arts in Humphreys Avenue
where our teacher was Barbara Rogalski who
taught me the art of Tonal Painting in oils. There
were around 8 of us in the group. We certainly kept
Barbara busy. We learnt so much and had a wonderful
time. We went outdoors and learnt how to
cope with the elements, windy days didn’t seem to
be our forte. Barbara was an excellent teacher and
hopefully I have been able to store all her expertise
in my head.

There was a print of a painting by Honorary Harold
Septimus Power (he was official artist for Australia
in WW1) in the gallery which I loved called “Ploughing”,
so I had a go at painting it. It is now on my wall

May 2023

where I can admire it every day. He was a beautiful
painter, especially of the work horse. During this
time, I also joined the portrait group with Ray Drayton
etc. which I enjoyed very much. Concentration
was the order of the day, even to forgetting to
breathe, we made up for that over a cup of tea,
though.
Around this time, we moved to Silver Grove, I also
moved to Lilydale. I wanted to try my hand at
watercolour and was fortunate to become one of
Antoinette Blyth’s pupils at her home in Vermont
South. I remained there for 4 years, going to WAA
Tuesday workshop, followed by Antoinette at night.
What a wonderful experience it was. Antoinette
and her husband Keith couldn’t have made me
more welcome and other pupils were so nice, it was
one big happy family environment. I did enjoy my
classes and the new medium, as unpredictable as it
is, it certainly keeps you on your toes. I try to
remember all that Antoinette taught me; she is
such a beautiful painter. Over the last few years my
paintings have become smaller. I am enjoying
painting cards which my friends look forward to
receiving.

It was a wonderful surprise to receive a “Certificate
of Appreciation” from Alan in 2019. I have been
with WAA for over 30 years now and have enjoyed
every minute of it.
My family has expanded over the years, 2 sons , 2
daughters-in-law, 8 grandchildren and now I am
blessed to have my first Great Grandchild, Lucas.
I am currently the Convener of the Tuesday Afternoon
Workshop. We are a small happy group, who
would love to welcome new members. We are a
self-help group, but there is always lots of helpful
advice if you require it.
Come along and enjoy
Faye Clark