Bronwyn Rodden # 1 Journey to Ink

1.       Landscape by Marie Rodden, c. 1970, oil on canvas.

To start at the beginning, I have to admit to inveigling my way into my mother’s art classes at Harrington Street Studios in the Rocks, Sydney, as a child. Some days I was too 'sick' for school, but well enough to make the journey to the city and enjoy watching my mother and the other students painting; smelling the oil paints and turps, fascinated by the still life compositions, including a line of multi-coloured glass bottles along a ledge in the studio that has stayed with me all my life. My mother, Marie Rodden, painted many things but I liked her landscapes best. Here’s one of a cabbage palm valley in the Royal National Park near us. She was my first inspiration and the beginning of my journey as an artist.