CARNATIONS

For reasons that I've never understood, Betty loved carnations. She was particular about flowers. She furiously tossed out a bunch of arum lillies that Susan and I bought her one year for Mother's Day because they reminded her of funerals. But carnations, even scrappy skinny ones, were her thing. She regularly bought bunches as well as having them growing in the garden. So it wasn't surprising that she fell in a love with a painting of carnations by Perth artist Laurie Knott. 


Born in the UK in 1921, Laurie Knott studied in the UK and arrived in Western Australia in 1952. An impressionist painter in oil and watercolour, he exhibited his work in Australia from 1963. He was art critic for the 'Sunday Times' newspaper in Perth, and has also worked as an art teacher judge and lecturer in Perth and country areas. His work is represented in Western Australian regional art galleries and institutional collections in Perth and overseas. He died in 1980. Some more information about his work can be found here: https://www.aasd.com.au/artist/9281-laurence-laurie-knott/

After Betty died (with an array of carnations on her coffin), we felt obliged to keep the painting even though carnations are not in my floral top 10. 
But finally, with the move back to Perth we felt we could pass it on to another flower lover. And then a friend suggested we donate it to an art auction that's going to take place in October, arranged by Perth Doctors: Medical Aid for Palestine to raise funds to help those stuck in the nightmare that is Gaza. That seemed like a cause which Betty would approved and so hopefully, the painting will both find a good home and help those in desparate need.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FARWELL TO THE PINK HOUSE

Image
Susan and I decided to say 'goodbye' to 14 Ward Grove, Pascoe Vale South by sharing the moment with friends. Although the house was full of packed boxes, we invited people over to say farewell...and take a momento. We both made bold decisions about art and craft that had been part of our lives for years. For example, I'd had a Gustav Klimt print hanging on various bedroom walls since the 1970s. A tea pot I'd bought from a ceramist in Canberra last century. A Boda vase that I'd been given. There were smaller pieces from ceramic pots to glassware, vases, both antique and modern, knick knacks from all over the world, and even hats. And in contemplating a new home, we needed to leave some space for new acquisitions. This was a clean out where we knew each piece was going to bring pleasure to someone else and so it was much easier to let it go. Debora, Glenda, Jesse, Murray & Loretta Kath, Susan & Julie Gemma, Pam, Dale & David
Read more

CHECKING THE IDEA

Image
In July 2024, on my return from a (wonderful) couple of months in Europe, I called into Perth to check the validity of my spreadsheets. Was it possible to buy a home with all the requirements that Susan and I needed for a home: - a pool - 3 to 4 bedrooms (so Sebastian & our Eastern States friends could come to visit)  - 2 living areas (because we have such different tastes in television) - single story (Susan in particular is over stairs) - close to a good beach...and to Perth friends. I enlisted my real estate researcher friend Stephanie and we drove all over the city looking at suburbs - north as far as Gwelup and south as far as Hamilton Hill. What had looked good on paper was starting to look dodgy because the Perth real estate market took off in 2024. By the end of the year prices had increased by 25% while the Melbourne market had sunk by 5%. What we could afford was looking further and further away from ideal locations. However, traipsing around the town with Stephanie w...
Read more

PACKING UP

Image
How do you sort out a house you've been in for 24 years? I should confess upfront that Susan and I are not Kondo afficiondos nor did we watch all the episodes of Swedish Death Cleaning series so we had a lot of stuff to sort through. For what seemed like months, I was making twice weekly visits to St Vinnies to drop off everything from clothes to kitchenware. We hired a 12 metre skip and recruited our wonderful neighbour Mike to smash up furntiture that was no good to anyone.  I even threw out Livia, the polystyrene statue that had starred in a production of "Women Beware Women" back in the 1980s. Poor thing. Her head had falled off a number of times only be stuck back on with jewel encrusted gaffer tape.But being outside for nearly twenty years meant that she had lost her charm.  Mike, our helpful neighbour Goodbye to Livia Another cultural challenge was books. Susan is a re-reader of books and I always claim that I'm going to so between us, we had 16 or was it 17 fu...
Read more