Art in Retirement

“It was an interesting road I had picked to travel and a very big learning curve,” explains this artist when commenting on her artistic journey.

- Pauline Roberts Jones

Retirement! It had arrived so quickly. It was 2005 and I was retired, not that I wasn’t looking forward to it, but what to do with all those hours you filled with work? I was looking for something to do to keep my mind, body and soul together and alert. Then I spotted an article about Frankston U3A (University of the Third Age) in our local paper. It talked about teaching and learning new skills in your later life, and I decided this might be the way to go.

U3A is an organisation that is run by over fifty-fives, for the over fifty-fives. People from all walks of life join together, some teaching and some learning new skills; it can be anything from History to Art and from Art to Belly Dancing. The choice is yours; you can take on some in-depth learning like history or you can have fun learning to play Canasta.

There were many courses I could have chosen from; I opted for the Beginner’s Water colour class where I met my teacher and mentor Jeannie Laine. Over the past six years she has taken me on a journey from an eager, but totally unsure artist, to what I am now. She managed to give me confidence, nurture my skills, and goaded and cajoled me on to better things, suggesting challenges and new things to expand my knowledge. Although the class is for water colours, we are encouraged to try our hand at drawing, pastels and acrylics. Here we learn to get all things into perspective. I enjoyed the water colours, but as time went on I found I was drawing more than painting. It had become my first love. I have kept up my water colours and with time and effort I have become accomplished at that also. Sometimes I draw and then apply a light colour wash to give more life and mood to my drawings.