Ada Clark in Milthorpe

Over Easter, we made a trek to the Orange region in NSW. We had hopes of avoiding the crowds up and down the coast by going inland. The weather was glorious and scenery spectacular. The region has great diversity in landscape; from the sheer sandstone escarpments at Blue Mountains, to granite tors and hills around Bathurst. We stayed at Milthorpe, a picturesque town near Orange and enjoyed walks around town. I'll write more on the places we went to as I post paintings (not done but lots of inspiration obtained!) up. But what I wanted to write today is about the delightful meeting we had with the nearly 80 year old artist Ada Clark. Her work was hanging at the motel we stayed in and I admired the loose strokes and bright colours. This is her painting of Milthorpe in Autumn.



It looks simple but effective and I wondered if I should pursue that more abstract style for some subjects. The receptionist advised me to visit Ada's Place. Ada turned out to be a sprightly woman, who offered us coffee and cake for free while we were browsing her shop. Ada is obviously a well travelled soul with many paintings and artefacts for sale from Italy, Greece, Turkey and of course, Milthorpe. She is planning a trip to Central Asia next and is by her own account, a popular artist. It is easy to see why: her style would fit well with contemporary interiors. What impressed us is her youthful enthusiasm for life despite her age. She was also generous in sharing details of her printer (who makes her prints, cards and coasters), and offered to send me an invitation to her pre-Christmas exhibition in Molong. An invitation will turn up by snail mail, Ada is definitely non-electronic, bless her soul!