Sunday, December 30, 2007

Lovely Rita

The absolute joy of having a holiday at home is being able to stay up past 9.30 and enjoy the fantastic programmes hidden in the very dark hours by the myopic programmers at TVNZ. Last night I was spellbound by Gaylene Preston's 'Lovely Rita'. What a treat, a beautifully crafted look at the life of a fantastic NZ artist. I was mesmerised by the images on the screen and looked at the very familiar paintings with fresh eyes. I realised how many of Rita's images, I see everyday in prints hanging at work and various other places. Paintings that I return to regularly without really taking in who painted them.
Gaylene Preston makes everything she touches magic. This programme was another step in my soul feeding holiday venture.
Here are some images I uploaded to share.
Boats, Island Bay
Fog, Hawkes Bay
Waterlillies

Waikenae

Cass

(voted NZ's favourite painting-I never go through this part of the country without thinking about this painting)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love art. We manage to get at least one art book every Christmas.

Anonymous said...

I could weep reading your blog Sal, as I completely forgot this doco was on.....remembered five mins before it finished while I was lying in bed reading....GRRRRRRR!!! I have been fascinated by Rita Angus since that Uni night course, what an amazing woman she was. I have Boats of Island Bay - waiting to be framed post-piano sale!
What a lovely blog entry. Gorgeous uploads of the paintings. K :-)

Anonymous said...

I have to say my favorite of Rita's is that picture of the cattle truck rolling over the hill. So NZ and so rural - and the Cass picture is fab too!
We are very lucky to live where we do...

Anonymous said...

Hey Sal, loved your lovely Rita story! I watched it too and just thought it was wonderful, I was intrigued about her life and her relationships and the influence on her art, what an incredible woman. I really enjoy that series and watched The Boy from Island Bay last Sat, its Ron Brierely's story,although I have read alot about him the doco just gave it all a slightly different feel. Thanks for sharing A