 | | Ellinore Ginn: NZ Fantasy Artist
Ten years ago Ellinore Ginn's daughter Margot decided she wanted New Zealand (NZ) and everyone else to remember her parents and Mum with her beautiful paintings, so she taught herself how to set up a web page in her memory. Having had no idea how to do it and making many mistakes, but eventually with help from others she started to learn more about HTML. |
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| Margot is also a tutor at SeniorNet for the over 50's and is thrilled to see older people coming in to the classroom and learning. Margot grew up with four sisters in Titahi Bay, Wellington, New Zealand and didn't think much about an artist’s life that her late mother had. She was just Mum. Margot remembers many a time as a child and young, waiting for dinner and her Mum had forgotten to cook again. She was busy painting at the table. She had her tubes of paint everywhere, a large canvas, cleaning rags, brushes and her little spray can of smelly stuff that she used to spray onto her paintings. Margot said she had no idea what it was and still doesn’t know as she never asked. | | 
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“As well as all that, there were the breakfast jars left on the table like vegemite and honey etc. They were swept aside as it was an artist’s world and nothing stood in her way to paint. We had to remind her to start dinner” recalls Margot.
The atmosphere in the house was colourful and so were here artistic friends. There were parties going on every month where the locals came and 'had a gin' or two and mum cooked fabulous dishes by throwing everything in without measuring things. They came out beautifully but she didn't know how to teach us as they were usually a 'one off' and had no recipe.
One day her Mum decided to make a cake for Christmas. It smelt good but, when she took it out of the oven she found she had grilled it instead. The inside was not done. She found cooking a bore as she only wanted to paint - but she was a marvelous cook.
Another time Margot recalls is about theatre, “which Mum had founded in our local seaside village. Our father hated the theatrical world. He escaped to the garage while we had play readings and dress-ups with the grownups. There were papier mâché heads throughout the house when a pantomime was produced and we thought we were in fantasy land. What a joy being part of it all! I don't think we appreciated it at that time as we were too young to know. But know we do!”
Margot's mother had only 6 months to live at the height of her career as an artist, the family was devastated and rallied around to help their Dad. “Mum had Fibrosing Alveolitis and we had no idea how she got it as she never smoked. When she died there were only 6 months until our father died. He had cancer which suddenly flared up after Mum died. We think he also died from a broken heart. It was so sad!”
Margot concludes her talk with Ole Sam and Spook with, “So now, when I enter my site about Mum to hopefully receive an award from an award site, I get thrilled when I do, because then there is another link for others to come into my site and see what wonderful parents we had.”
We will remember them with great affection! |
The Brothers Grinn
(Denny Lancaster and Bernie Howe) |
