Sad news to let members of our class know that two lovely ladies have passed away, Jay earlier in the year and Hatsue at the beginning of April. I thought it would be nice just to remember them, they were such warm friendly members of the class and came for quite a few years.
Jay was the first to come to my classes at least 7 or more years ago, her friendly and direct northern accent always made me smile and she always wanted to paint large paintings! Abstracts too! She already had been painting a while and continued to strive to be big and bold with her painting. Back in 2023 she came down to the beach for a watercolour session in the Worthing beach huts in August. She wasn't too well then but that didn't stop her and I was surprised that she was able to get down there with her walking frame and then paint, it was one of the hottest days we had seen for a long while. She said she thoroughly enjoyed it, so did I.
Two of the many paintings by Jay
Hatsue also came to the classes for quite a few years, at least 6 or more. Jemima got chatting to her at the Heene Summer Fayre and asked her if she would like to join us and she did! Always cheerful and quite an experienced oil painter she decided that she would like to develop her skills in watercolour painting and I think she enjoyed it immensely and took to all of the watercolour challenges in class using her oil knowledge of mixing colours. A real talent in how she painted and I loved watching her.
I then mentioned to Hatsue that I was taking up piano lessons in a small group over in East Preston and she joined that too. She mentioned that her son had bought her a piano but she couldn't play or read music. Six months later she was playing the same music as the others and had learnt how to play, I was amazed. Hatsue said it was good for arthritic hands! Clearly the amount of practice both in watercolours and piano gave her pleasure and super results.
Below two of the many paintings by Hatsue
Left to right: Beverley, Jay and Hatsue at our Christmas party
Such happy times and memories with both Jay and Hatsue and they are much missed. If you sat next to them in class or want to leave a comment here please do in rememberance
Jane
I remember Jay very well, she was a lovely lady and we shared a northern background! I never had the pleasure of meeting Hatsue but enjoyed seeing her paintings on the Sky Blue website. RIP lovely ladies xx. Christine Davies