Birthday wish comes true

For Jean Jackson, a longheld birthday wish is coming true, thanks to her family. Jackson is celebrating her birthday with her first solo exhibition Going Solo, at Trailways Hotel.

For many years she had talked about holding her own show but it wasn’t until her husband Barry and daughters Zoe and Louise got together and offered to pay for the rental of the Maitai Room at Trailways as well as advertising, that her wish came true.

‘‘They just knew that having a solo exhibition was something I’d often talked about doing and by helping financially, I can now do it, as having an exhibition is quite a expensive commitment,’’ says Jackson. A passionate realism painter for over 30 years, Jackson will have thirty six works in the exhibition, ranging from landscapes to still life. After immigrating from England to New Zealand in 2004, Jackson took a couple of years to settle in before starting painting again.

She uses oil paints, a medium that offers her plenty of freedom.

‘‘I love the fluency of oils,’’ says Jackson.

‘‘ I can paint one day, then if it’s not right, I can make mistakes and put it right by cleaning the paint off and starting again.’’

Once the idea was hatched, the whole family had to pitch in to make it happen with only a month to get organised.

‘‘I’m feeling quite enthusiastic now, but it was a bit of a breakneck arrangement as we didn’t have that much time to get everything together,’’ says Jackson.

‘‘But the family have been fantastic, Zoe will help set up and Louise will be there to pack down again. I couldn’t have done this without my family.’’

‘‘I think this sort of present could be a great idea for others to help out an artist in the family.’’