Artist Lindy McLachlan has a new exhibition, titled A Pop of Pink, running at Matawhero Art Gallery. Photo / Kim Parkinson
Artist Lindy McLachlan has a new exhibition, titled A Pop of Pink, running at Matawhero Art Gallery. Photo / Kim Parkinson
Walking around the new exhibition by Lindy McLachlan at Matawhero Art Gallery is like exploring a vast and colourful garden.
Aptly called A Pop of Pink, the paintings feature garden scenes where the stars of the show are the flowers, which range from purple irises to the humble daisy.
McLachlan grew up in rural Raetihi near Mt Ruapehu and now lives in Pahiatua with husband Donald on a farm with a large and bountiful garden that provides the inspiration for a lot of her paintings.
She was invited to be the resident artist at last year’s Shepherdess Muster, a weekend festival for rural women, where she did an artscape. This involved creating a background of the Motu valley on a large canvas, which people were invited to paint themselves on, as small figurines.
This led to an introduction to Sally Gaddam, who invited her to exhibit at Matawhero Art Gallery.
McLachlan has 40 years of experience as a physiotherapist where she specialises in trauma. While she has always enjoyed drawing, she didn’t start painting seriously until she was in her 50s.
Her husband has always encouraged her creativity and supported her artistic pursuits.
He encouraged her to attend painting classes taken by Masterton artist Jane Sinclair which she still attends 15 years later.
“She is a mentor and friend and has bought eight of my paintings, which is such a compliment. Every one of these paintings has a bit of Jane in it,” McLachlan says.
Her passion for painting has grown over time.
“It is my essence and brings me calm. There is emotion and love in every one of my paintings.
“I’m conscious of the love that goes with the brush and the hand. Physio is like that, too. When I treat my patients, my hands are on them.
“I’ve had 40 years of touching humans. I can feel their tension. It’s like working with a sculpture made of a malleable clay.”
Carnival by Lindy McLachlan is part of A Pop of Pink exhibition at Matawhero Art Gallery.
McLachlan’s studio set-up is far from conventional. She works at the dining room table, so her art has become part of the clutter of daily life.
Painting in acrylics, she always starts a canvas by putting down a colour called burnt sienna.
“They’re all orange when I start. It’s my favourite colour. It gives that lovely warmth - you can almost feel the heat of the earth and the sun.
“I usually use only six colours, which I mix myself, and I use big brushes.”
Her work features a lot of layering, which brings texture and depth.
As a keen gardener, McLachlan says the perspective in her paintings is usually from ground level among the plants and flowers.
“You can see I love gardening because I’m usually at the bottom of the garden and I’m on the ground. In my paintings you’re looking through the plants.”
McLachlan paints images from English gardening magazines and has developed relationships with English landscape gardeners like Jinny Blom, who is known for transforming large country estates.
“I love the light in the English photos, whereas the light in NZ can be very harsh at times. I prefer capturing first morning light.”
She paints prolifically on Fridays and over weekends.
“So when I’m not doing physio, it’s gardening, reading and art... and not much housework.”
McLachlan’s first exhibition was in 2023 at the Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History in Masterton where she sold every painting. She has also exhibited at ConArt Gallery - a purpose-built creative space near Aratoi.
