Real Life Hero - The Art Of Life
The Art of Life (an inspiring interview with Jean Melvin)
Article written by Victoria Francis
It was a rare pleasure to interview such a remarkable woman. A mother, grandmother, now a great grandmother, a wife, an artist, and someone who has witnessed so many changes in the world over the last 100 years and who continues to inspire people to this day.
Born Jean Dufty in Chatswood NSW, 1920 she grew up as one of four siblings to loving parents and a wonderful family. To this day one of her most cherished childhood memories is of her whole family including aunts, uncles and cousins having family singalongs around the piano. “In those days everybody played, and everybody sang. In fact, every week the local council would have community singing and that would be the highlight of everybody’s time because there was no way to afford to do anything else. They would have a child on the stage (I was asked to do it once) who would sing ‘Please give me a penny Sir, my mother dear is dead, please I am so hungry Sir, a penny for some bread’ and anyone who had a penny would throw it on stage and it would be used for soup kitchens.”
When Jean finished school, she worked in advertising for ‘Country Press’ creating layouts and artwork. Three nights a week she would go to the National Art School where she cultivated her love to paint that she discovered as a child.
Jean met her husband during the war, “I decided I would go out to Mascot to help at the big factory where they were building fighters and airplanes for the war and that’s where I met my husband. He had tried to get in the air force but seeing he was too young he went to the DAP department of aircraft production and he was in the office.”
Her husband, Noel Melvin became a renowned singer who toured often with various conductors. He won Mobile Song Quest, went to London and was asked to become part of the Opera Company which he turned down because he wanted to come back to Australia. As a professional singer Noel was away often – sometimes months at a time, leaving Jean to raise their two children. She reminisces that when her husband was away, she made a life for herself and became an artist. “Really I’ve been a successful artist all my life (since 17 years of age).” She works in all mediums but creates mainly landscapes and her paintings are literally all over the world, USA, England, Greece, France just to name a few countries!
Although a child of the Great Depression years, Jean claims they were lucky “My father was in work – millions weren’t. I had one pair of shoes and hand me downs from cousins.” When asked about her favourite childhood memories, one in particular came to mind. Her brother used to build all their toys and she remembers a billy cart he made and since there were no cars around (although their dog was run over by horse and cart!) you could career down the street on the homemade cart. “I’ll always remember the thrill of the billycart! I just remember it being a wonderful time. Also, at Christmas time you might get a singlet or a new pair of panties, or a book and a couple of lollies. You’d hang a stocking up and it was so exciting. Every year dad and mum would save up and we’d go away for a holiday up to the Central Coast. We never had a car, no one could afford cars. We would catch the train – electric ones to Hornsby and then there were steam trains all up the North Shore line. There was no bridge in those days, so you had to go to Milsons point and walk down to the ferry and be ferried across to the city.”
Jean moved up to Queensland when Noel passed at the age of 78 (passed away doing what he loved best, singing). She is now a grandmother to seven grandchildren and a great grandmother to twelve! The secret to her fit and healthy lifestyle? “I exercise every day of my life. I start on the side of the bed, limbering up and, I think over the years as I’ve been a fulltime artist, you never sit to paint. I would stand at my easel and sometimes I’d do two paintings a day. All that standing for all those years has kept me healthy. Now, I keep mentally alert by doing cryptic crosswords and sudoku and I socialise. You’ve got to keep active, mentally and physically and try to eat the right foods but always remember to have a glass of wine with friends! Oh, and good genes have certainly helped!”
When asked what her stand out memory of being a professional artist has been she takes a moment to consider before sharing “I’ve really just enjoyed the whole thing, I like being outdoors, I like the companionship as I usually paint with other people and I’ve organised trips away for a week for up to 40 people to create art. All the people I’ve known in the art field have been wonderful. At times, especially after the war, I never had a painting in the studio left, they were all going, going, going, it’s not so good now but I still love my landscape painting which is my chief love, mainly in oils. Mind you I never painted exactly what I saw, I’d move a tree if I needed to make a composition.
Her best advice to budding artists… “A painting is nothing without a decent composition.”