Artistic endeavours

The painting of The Clubhouse, July 1995

The Clubhouse and the artists

The delivery of The Clubhouse to the Royal Academy, 1997

So January brings the departure from these shores of the Cox & Consort, bound for the Antipodes to visit the colonial outpost of our esteemed Club and to meet the Chair of the Fine Arts Committee for the first time. It should be a good weekend in Melbourne this weekend, especially if the weather remains fine, as it did today when heat stopped play at the Australian Open, with all of the overseas members in attendance. With this in mind, I thought it might be a good opportunity for Ruby to practice her painting, especially with her cousins in attendance, and with the submission date for the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy fast approaching.

The Chair of the Fine Arts Committee informed me at the weekend that she has a supply of green paint awaiting utilising, and with this in mind, I wondered if it might be possible for the Cox perhaps to be the subject matter of Ruby’s first artistic foray, possibly with glass in hand (the Coxswain, not Ruby). All parties seem keen thus far, and the CWSC wondered if such a painting trip would be an even greater success of both Sam and Poppy had a go at painting Granny, all of which I thought was splendid idea. One can only hope for a greater level of success than that which was enjoyed by the submission of “The Clubhouse” in , but you’ve got to be in it to win it, and just imagine if Ruby’s portrait of the Cox were to be hung in the Royal Academy………