My Own Patch

John’s latest exhibition will be held at the -
Nolan on Lovel Gallery
56A Lovel Street
Katoomba NSW 2780
  
Monday  October 21st  - November 3rd 2013
Opening on Wednesday 23rd October at 6pm

My Own Patch, will feature works based on Katoomba Street, Main Street, Autumn landscapes from North Katoomba, and a number of domestic interiors. Since resigning from the job of Cultural Development Officer in 1996 –  the year the Blue Mountains was designated the Inaugural City of the Arts – John Ellison has held an exhibition of his paintings each year. The works are well known and have featured in a number of books, including Carolyn Skinner’s: Land Out of Time ; Sekhemet and Katoomba Street, Collected Poetry of the Blue Mountains; and Carol Hampshire’s Artists Observed. 
John, who is often seen sketching the buildings and passers – by in  Katoomba Street, comments: 
“I sometimes like to sit at the lovely mosaic tables and simply watch the passing scene for an hour or so. Balzac described how he could enter into the body and soul of  person and have a sense of their biography, simply by watching them walk by. That sort of looking can be applied to buildings, trees, people, dogs, clouds, with the same thrilling intensity. That’s what this latest exhibition’s about: making a special act of attention to our familiar surroundings. Katoomba itself is undergoing huge personality changes at the moment, and appears to have lost some of its former vitality. However if Katoomba could learn to market itself as the  town of all that is unusual, artistic and creative – as is demonstrated by the ongoing success of Winter Magic – it could undergo a mighty resurgence".