Judy’s creative flair will bowl you over
Catch upside down artist, Judy Wentzel's exhibition at Flanders Mall's Green Gallery.
A LIFETIME’S wall of framed photos paints the picture of Judy Wentzel’s creativity and love for her family, friends and life.
The Mt Edgecombe artist, who paints astonishing paintings upside down, is exhibiting at The Green Gallery at Flanders Mall in Mt Edgecombe, till Monday 14 October.
Judy’s passion and love for art started at a tender age while at nursery school.
“My inner child never grew up,” she said jokingly.
Judy said she uses acrylic paint to create her eclectic, realistic and naive-style paintings and added her love for painting upside down is thanks to her mentor, Lib Stewart.
“I have ADHD, so painting upside down calms me and challenges me. The year I spent with Lib really taught me what I needed to know.
“She suggested I paint upside down, but I just laughed it off. But she turned my canvas around again. This technique allows my brain to lose intensity. I enjoy painting this way, because I don’t know what it’s going to be like. I never get bored,” she said.
Judy, who started from humble beginnings, being a self-taught artist, said she loves working with colours, because it makes her happy.
She owned her own gallery for four years, but decided to close it to pursue her love for writing.
“I now, besides painting, write children’s books. The books are aimed at teenage boys and girls, looking at various issues and elements they have to face growing up,” she said.
Judy also passed her super creativity on to her three children, Justin, Lauren and Kylie, who all pursued careers of a very creative nature and said it’s the support from her husband of 30 years, Eddie, and her children, that inspires her to create these amazing works of art.
The current exhibition, titled Bold and Beautiful, is a depiction of Judy’s bold paintings. For her it is humbling to share the stage with the main attraction, Makiwa Mutomba, who won a Societe Nationale Des Beaux-Art Salon award for his paintings from The Louvre Museum in Paris.
The Green Gallery is open from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. Contact the gallery on 031 502 2757.
