LIAM DURKIN
By LIAM DURKIN
OF the 330 million Americans quietly, or not so quietly, going about their day-to-day lives on the other side of the world, there is a good chance some are familiar with the publication Painting World magazine.
It is unlikely however most of them know the artwork on the front cover of a recent issue was produced right here in the Latrobe Valley.
Traralgon artist Janice Timmins received a tremendous buzz when she found out her acrylic painting of autumn leaves had been chosen to feature on the magazine’s cover.
On hearing her piece had been chosen for the front, Ms Timmins said she could hardly believe the news.
“I had no idea, it arrived in the mail and when I opened it I thought ‘Oh my God’, it was a thrill,” she said.
“I’ve had other pieces published in magazines but never on the front page.
“I submitted the work and they accepted it, I didn’t realise it was going to be on the front page, it was quite exciting.”
As Ms Timmins explained, it was nothing more than chance that formed the basis of her piece.
“It was autumn and I was outside cleaning out the leaves and as I was looking down I thought ‘those leaves look beautiful with all those bright colours’, just the formation of them, so I took some photos and I painted them and brought some autumn colours into them,” she said.
Appropriately, the vibrancy of Ms Timmins’ kaleidoscopic artwork took top billing in the August issue – a time when the summer months are enjoyed in the United States.
Ms Timmins has previously taught art in the US and said she would love to meet the magazine’s management in person in the near future.
As an added bonus, the August issue marked the first time the magazine, produced in Minnesota, had been published in Australia.
Ms Timmins can now say she was the first Australian artist to be featured on the front cover of an internationally distributed magazine.
Who knows, perhaps even a curator at the Smithsonian reading the magazine cast their eye over Ms Timmins’ work.
