INTERNATIONALLY recognised Hamilton artists, husband and wife duo Jenni Mitchell and Mervyn Hannan, will be exhibiting their paintings at the Eltham Art Show in September, offering just a small taste of the Western District series they’ve been working on.

Ms Mitchell and Mr Hannan have a gallery and art studio on Petschels Lane in Hamilton called Petschel House where they paint, exhibit, and run workshops.

The Montsalvat-bred artists have been driving around the Western District and into the Grampians at least once a week for the last few years to paint en plein air, which is a French expression meaning in the open air – painting outdoors with the subject in view.

“The majority of our work is painted out in the field,” Ms Mitchell said.

“We pack up our easels and take our lunch and we head out.

“Being in the landscape is the important part, rather than looking from a photograph.

“I’ve been working on native wildflowers all around the district; towards Horsham on the outskirts of the Grampians and out towards Lake Bolac.

“I’m also fascinated with wild grass fields and wheat crops, where you get that lovely summer light.”

Ms Mitchell tends to work with oils, watercolour, gouache and print making and has a Fine Arts degree from RMIT, and a Master of Visual Arts from Monash.

She said painting has been her lifeblood and combines her love of nature with wanting to share the excitement she finds in the wildness and beauty of the world.

“Eltham is my birthplace and my love of the bush around me as a child grew from living ‘Among the Gumtrees’,” Ms Mitchell said.

 “My first painting lessons as a 10-year-old were under the Western District born artist Lesley Sinclair at the Eltham Artist Colony of Montsalvat.” 

Ms Mitchell said she spent many years painting landscapes that were endangered and led conservation groups to maintain the Eltham environs she loves and where she also served as councillor.

“We have had a long association between Eltham and the Western District since 1999 when we purchased a cottage in Digby,” she said.

“In 2002, my portrait of the three Digby McDonald brothers was on show at the Hamilton Gallery.

“The brothers, Kevin, Ron and Allan were also the subject of The Age weekend story I wrote.

“Later, the ABC Australian Story came with us to film our connection with the three brothers. 

“This is when I painted the portrait that hung in the Hamilton Gallery.”

Ms Mitchell has also worked on ice-breaker ships as artist-in-residence to the Antarctic, The Arctic and Norway, and in 2005 held an exhibition of her Antarctic paintings and photographs in the Hamilton Gallery.

Mr Hannan has travelled extensively to paint - to New Zealand, Asia, Africa, the USA and Europe. 

He worked in Switzerland with the Montreux Jazz Festival for several years as a stagehand for some of the world’s leading jazz musicians while refining his drumming skills.

“I’ve been painting all my life,” he said.

Mr Hannan works mostly with pastel on paper, but also does sculpture and picture framing.

His visual arts work employs multi-media processes from traditional paint on canvas, drawing, pastel painting, carving construction and clay modelling.

Much of Mr Hannan’s sculptures are carved from stone and wood and his works have been described as having an ephemeral dimension.

For the series, Mr Hannan has been mainly painting scenes from the Grampians’ ranges.

“I’ve also done a pastels of water pools,” he said.

“Very rarely do I work from photographs.”

Together, Mr Hannan and Ms Mitchell have travelled, painted, and exhibited in Mongolia and Timor, as well as much time spent painting inland Australia, particularly the North Flinders Ranges and Lake Eyre.

In 2016, Ms Mitchell and Mr Hannan relocated to the 1856 bluestone Petschel House in Hamilton.

“This time, instead of taking paintings from the Eltham Studio to exhibit in Hamilton, we are making paintings of the Western District and exhibiting in Eltham,” Ms Mitchell said.

The pair will be exhibiting around 20 painting each at the Eltham exhibition to be opened by Eltham MP, Vicki Ward, on Wednesday, September 7 at 5.15pm and will run until September 21.

“Petchel House is open by appointment at the moment – it’s open most weekends but its best to phone first,” Ms Mitchell said.