By Jonty Ralphsmith
A walk into Calvin Bell’s Cranbourne North rental property reveals a longheld zest for painting.
Mr Bell, now retired, has been painting and exploring different genres of art since he was a kid.
His hallway is lined with approximately 30 pieces of work which he rotates regularly.
“As an artist it’s fun to change what’s on the walls – I don’t want it to get boring.”
At the back of the property is a living space which was been converted to an art workshop during the lockdown for his own recreation and for the Provenance Art Society, an incorporated group of which he is the president.
The society are preparing for the 22nd Great Art Sale and Show, taking place from Friday 8 April until Sunday 10 April at Nossal High School, Berwick.
There will be 543 paintings on display, of which “well over 100” will be from Provenance
There are 123 artists within the society and about ten, Mr Bell estimated, are entering work into the show.
Mr Bell gathered four artists that attend his various classes, for a roundtable discussion about the upcoming show.
“Our aim is painting for pleasure – we want artists go away happy,” Mr Bell said.
“We never say to them ‘you will paint this,’ we ask them ‘what do you want to paint?’ and the style can be abstract, oils, watercolours, acryllics, pencils…”
“We help direct them without being too overbearing.
Kiran Singh had not painted in 35 years, he said, before attending his first class at Provenance and impressed with his meticulous attention to detail.
He is entering a piece he painted in his third class into the show.
“I practice Hinduism and that’s Lord Christian,” Mr Singh explained.
“The word Christian was like music to me so it attracted me to go deeper and deeper into it.
“I see a person and I want to narrate it through art.”
The society also wished to thank Narre Warren South MP Gary Maas and Gembrook MP, Brad Battin, for their support.
