By Mikayla van Loon
It’s never too late to try something new and for recently appointed Kallista-The Patch CFA captain Martin Noonan, that philosophy has been guiding him for the last year.
Having never picked up a paint brush or drawn anything in his life, Mr Noonan decided to challenge himself last year when Victoria was in the midst of its longest lockdown.
“I have never been able to draw or paint in my life. I could never do anything like this at school, my mother did paint a little bit that only was only real basic stuff,” Mr Noonan said.
“I thought, now I’m gonna really try and push myself because lockdowns can be pretty boring and I’ve done all the garden projects and tidying up the house.”
Mr Noonan started by painting an 1800s shack that his daughter in law stumbled upon in Gippsland, which turned out to be his ancestors.
“I painted that and it worked out really well. So my partner suggested that I start painting certain buildings of Kallista because they’re really quite interesting.”
Taking the suggestion and running with it, Mr Noonan has now painted Kallista Post Office, The Patch Post Office, Cooks Corner, Kallista Deli, the Kallista Tea Rooms and the fire brigade.
Thinking of ways Mr Noonan could help raise some much needed funds for the CFA, all six artworks have been turned into postcards which are for sale at Kallista Post Office, The Patch Post Office and Cooks Corner.
“I can’t believe it’s actually real but it’s actually happened and a proportion of the sale of each postcard goes to the fire brigade for equipment.
“It costs a lot to run the brigade and buying equipment is a hard slog each year with fundraising.
“With no markets for us to be out with sausage sizzles, and those normal fundraising activities with all of that sort of closed down last year, people are putting their minds to creative ideas.”
Mr Noonan said other CFA members have been making jams and chutneys to sell at the Kallista and The Patch Post Offices.
As a thank you for the support both businesses have shown the CFA, Mr Noonan gifted the paintings he had done of the buildings to each store.
“I’ve dedicated the Kallista post office painting to Jo there at the post office and, unfortunately, last year, she lost her business partner Liz, so it’s a dedication for them.”
Even though photographing each building Mr Noonan tried to make as accurate as possible, the same technique does not apply to his paintings.
“It’s not about trying to be accurate, kind of like a photography type artwork, it’s about kind of a caricature almost of the building,” he said.
An artwork takes Mr Noonan anywhere between two to three weeks, working on them in short bursts of time.
“I started in little bits and pieces, in terms of timelines in the beginning, I now sort of spend maybe half an hour to an hour but quite frankly, that just goes in seconds, you just get so immersed into the challenge of dimensions and proportions and color.”
Mr Noonan said he already has some ideas of what he’d like to paint next, perhaps the Kallista Primary School entry.
He’s also had requests from people to paint their houses which he has found very humbling and without that encouragement, Mr Noonan said he wouldn’t have painted everything he has.
“Through people’s encouragement and this is the important part, that what I think was sort of ok, other people think is more than ok,” he said.
“The girls at the patch post office have been really encouraging, together with my partner and other community people that we know that have said, ‘hey, that’s not bad’.”
