Elle 's lessons with Jim Casey

JIM CASEY"S

Telarah Lagoon .... Elle's first lesson

Elle's second lesson

with James A Casey (Jim Casey)

James A Casey

"JIM CASEY" to his friends,

"JAMES A CASEY " the way he signs his work

"JAMES ALEXANDER CASEY" the whole name !

I am heading home tomorrow and I'm so looking forward to it. My dear friend Jim Casey has kindly offered to pick me up at the Newcastle airport tomorrow morning.

I am so lucky to have such a good friend. He is a generous and kind Christian man, young for his years, active as an artist for many years, and well known also as a sign writer, Jim keeps active with singing lessons and dancing.
He is the most completely sociable creature I know, and loves nothing better than a cup of tea and a chin wag with a huge circle of friends.

Elle, my youngest daughter had her Art exam this morning for year 12. She was trying to think of an artist to write about as a contempory landscape impressionist, and I said to her what about Jim ?

Elle had been very fortunate this year to have some one on one lessons with Jim at the Telarah lagoon, one of his favourite spots to paint, not far from home.
I was grateful that he made the time to take her out as her time was limited to weekends and school holidays in Maitland.

I bought her an easel and some oil paints which Jim kindly picked out at Eckersleys in Newcastle. She was so excited. Jim has a small group that he teaches regularly that includes his ex wife a lovely woman named Lesley.

I am happy that Jim has been able to take Elle out with him "en plain air"
he watches the weather closely, looking to find the perfect light. We had a good laugh recently as the weather was pretty awful recently for one of her lessons but they went out anyway. The sky was full of stormy grey clouds, so he painted what he saw. He captured the scene quickly, working in just a couple of hours to paint the lagoon and grey sky. He was pretty pleased with the result, and told me that he doesn't really like to paint clouds. I have seen so many of his paintings but I had never really noticed that.

The other day he showed me a painting of a gum tree with new growth down low, and said he thought he might paint out the leaves and just leave the stump. I said I thought it was a shame as I liked the lush new growth. He said he probably should resist the urge to "finish' them when he gets home.

I am buying a lovely still life of camelias in an old Victorian Floral bowl. It is a stunning painting, with his characteristic rich velvet drape and shining reflection in the table top. It's not one he really wants to part with.
The composition is simple, as I often pick on him for putting too much in, a book, a little figure, recently he completed a still life with a violin, sheet music and a rose.
He had intended it to be vertical, but a customer requested that it be horizontal so he added some books to the right. He was a little unhappy, as he gives a good deal of thought to the set up and lighting and it would have been graceful as he intended.

He is skilled in painting camelias, and hydrangeas, and his shocks of wattle are so beautiful. I would dearly like to get one of his still lifes of fruit. I missed a stunning one recently, in a blue and white bowl with a simple composition.

We have done a few swaps, as he loves his props and his home is full of vases and busts, old copper and brass wares. He continues to amass new items and I recently swapped him a really lovely brass vase, old arabic heavily embossed with designs and inlaid with copper and silver, for a frame. He intends to paint some peacock feathers in it.

The one painting Jim has been planning for ever is of the titanic, which he had a model made especially for. He plans to paint it with some other memorabilia, nets boys, old diving helmet, pulleys.

I guess the need for money drives us all and the landscapes are achieved a lot quicker than the still lifes. I actually like the spontenaeity of the work "en plain air"
I don't think Jim even knows now how many paintings he has done. A lot of customers to my shop recognize his work. His landscapes bring upwards of 1000.00 and the still lifes 2000.00 to 3000.00, but each one is a negotiation and he is very generous.
He has donated work each year to local charities for fund raising auctions. He received a lovely write up in the Mercury in the late 1990's and is scheduled to have an exhibition at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery next year.
I will be lending my works for the exhibition an he promised me an invite to the openning, so I guess I'd better spruce up.

I am hoping now with a little gentle push he will get the profile and recognition he deserves.
I'll load up some more pics when I get home.!