Tuesday Voice: Paintings at Ben's, by Shirley Deane/Midyett

"Sailboat on the Horizon"
(detail of painting at the bottom)

By Vic Midyett

A recent visit with our son Ben reminded me that we hadn't yet shared images of Shirley's paintings that hang in his house. Ben is a recreational diver and photographer, and his underwater photos inspired this painting of fish and coral:

"Underwater," painted about 2000 (2' x 1')

The painting below depicts a rural scene of a track Shirley and I drove down just North of Broome, Western Australia about 25 years ago. The road turned into a four-wheel-drive-only access. We were in one. We drove for about an hour and found an isolated beach laden with sea shells of all shapes, sizes, and colors. We stayed there for several hours exploring the mouth of a small river, and not another single soul did we see. From memory, there are 10,865 beaches around Australia including one about six hours south of this place that is 80 miles long, uninterrupted. We stopped there too (a few days earlier) and didn't see anyone else there either.

"Broome Track," painted about 1989-90 (4' x 3')

And my very favorite of Ben's painting by Shirley, an ocean storm at sunset:

"Ocean Storm at Sunset," painted about 2000 (4' x 3')

    My photograph doesn't begin to do the colors justice. You have to stand before this painting to appreciate how excitingly vibrant they are. In case you can't spot the sailboat on the horizon, we show its small portion of canvas in the detail photo at the top.
    Note that the dimensions of these paintings are given in feet – in contrast to the recent small paintings that she has done, mainly because we didn't have enough room in the van. She would much rather do large ones, which she can now that we are situated in a flat in Fremantle.

Copyright © 2015 by Vic Midyett & Shirley Deane/Midyett