Blossoming Macleay Island artist, Lynda Faulkner, has island links that are enviable.
Lynda has only recently ‘rediscovered’ her love of art and it has been aided and assisted by many in the island art world.
And it is ironic that she lives in the family home that she has frequented on and off, since 1967.
“We originally hailed from Ipswich, but my family built this home in Western Road, Macleay Island, way back when there were only 41 people living on the island.”
Lynda’s mother, Meryl, was a teacher on Macleay Island in the 1980’s and will be remembered by many.
The Western Road residence was initially built as a holiday home, but that changed when Lynda’s parents retired to their island paradise, with its spectacular views, in the 1980’s.
“I was still at school when we first came here. It was a very special place.”
Lynda fondly remembers Charlie Honeychurch who was the then owner of nearby Garden Island.
“At 17, I was in the unique position of receiving a marriage proposal from the then 86-year-old Charlie.
“Had I accepted his several proposals, I could have been the Queen of Garden Island,” Lynda remembers with a smile.
Whilst she didn’t marry Charlie, she did accept the proposal from Dave Faulkner, a safety officer.
Several years of travelling finally led to an isolated new direction that was to dominate the couple’s working lives.
Dave Faulkner became the pump station manager and Lynda the safety office at the remote McKenzie River water pumping station in central Highlands area of Queensland.
The pump station provides water for the nearby townships of Tieri and Oaky Creek Mine.
For more than 20 years they lived and thrived at the pump station with Lynda developing some pretty impressive gardens and working as a safety officer during the week.
“At weekends, to make life interesting, we would develop themes for dining and interest.
“It really was a great way to live,” she recalls.
The couple had a very quiet and private life there, so moving to the family home on Macleay island three years ago, was an easy transition.
On returning to Macleay, Lynda and Dave got to meet many of today’s locals, particularly in the art world.
“Maddi Ekeblad became a good friend and art mentor. So did Judy Pickering and Ted Upton
“They encouraged me to develop my art, and I like to think I have.”
Lynda has set aside a large area at the rear of her Western Road home as a studio where she has developed a number of themes, particularly associated with dogs.
One of the themes, similar we suppose to those isolated weekends at McKenzie River, is ‘working dogs on the red carpet’.
The result is a sequence of paintings of working dogs ‘dolled up’ in red carpet decoration.
There are other animal themes as well, including the ‘Andy Warhol series’ of colourful dog images.
Such has been her progress that she has been invited to join Maddi Ekeblad at one of her exhibitions in the coming months at the Asia Contemporary Arts Show to be held in Hong Kong.
“That is amazing and I am so looking forward to it,” Lynda told The Friendly Bay Islander.
She is currently busy finishing off her latest works and has hosted a ‘welcome back’ event for Maddi and Peter Ekeblad who returned from Malaysia for a brief visit to their original island home.
• Lynda Faulkner with some of her artworks.
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