April 2022 Mailbag No 2

Bouquet of flowers by Suzana Tumbas, Coatia ©

How lovely to open April Mailbag No 2 with a Bouquet of Flowers sent in by Suzana Tumbas in Croatia. The work was created using acrylic paint on canvas and is 25cm ×30cm in size. Thank you Suzana.

And Andrew the Collector has shared two of his favourite paintings by Jack Absalom - one of the Brushmen of the Bush from Broken Hill in SouthWest New South Wales. Jane and I are off to Broken Hill at the end of April so you will be treated to more paintings by the artists who made up the famous outback painters called the Brushmen of the Bush.

Night Camp ( Nocturne ) by Jack Absalom 
Pintabee Rock by Jack Absalom 

Here is a Bookmark link to the post I wrote about Jack Absalom a couple of weeks ago in memory of this wonderful man and artist.

Remembering Jack Absalom
Jack Absalom, one of Australia’s greatest landscape painters, died 3 years ago on this day 22 Mar 2019. Jack was a lovely, gentle man & a wonderful artist who so generously gave time to anyone who wanted to talk about how to get that perfect image.

Our next item came about as a result of showcasing some local examples of art and craft on display at the Canberra Show. In response Monica in Tanzania wrote in to say:

Hi Anne Your mailbag was so so interesting. The Toll Paper work is absolutely brilliant! Then the Cygnets taking a 'piggy back' ride on Mummy is fascinating. I wonder how many babies the Swan could carry at a time. All my life, I have wanted to do quilting. It is one of those ambitions that will never come to fruition. Your example is "perfection"! And, nothing can beat a sunset! Even if it is a grey sunset, the miasmas of clouds are tenuously beautiful, and the silhouettes of the trees make their own stark statement. I watch the sunsets every night.

Just a comment about the car. I think, note 'think', that the mascot on the car is the Egyptian god Thoth, who was always represented as a man with the head of an Ibis - hence the long curved beak. Guessing!! Thank you for the package of Perfections!' M.B. Tanzania

This is the car Monica is referring to.

Julie has joined in with:

Handcrafts are so important, skills that need to be passed on. Love the quilting too! I think the car is a Rolls Royce, maybe a Phantom? Gorgeous! Julie

And I did a little research and agree that the car is indeed a Phantom Rolls Royce and the mascot is the Spirit of Ecstasy which has appeared on Rolls Royce cars since 1909. The story of the making of the mascot is so fascinating I have decided to do a separate post on this topic - coming soon. But in the meantime for all those who have a love of the beauty of automobiles you can enjoy this short video on the Phantom II.

Finally at the bottom of the mailbag an item from Gayle in Chelsea, Victoria who sent in an alert concerning stolen Napoleonic items here in Melbourne - a very long way from France! The story turned out to be so intriguing that I've decided to do a separate post on this as part of our Art Crimes and Mysteries series. Also coming up soon.