Lawyers who Paint exhibition – September 2023
I am a big supporter of encouraging lawyers to develop creative interests outside the law. I was therefore both pleased and privileged to be involved in the first exhibition at the NZ Bar Association annual conference, showcasing paintings and photographs from lawyers who paint/create.
In my case, painting has been my hobby, to relax and take my mind off work and focus on something else. Art is also a great way to communicate with others and engage with them.
This painting is a case in point. The subjects, Zara on the left and Amelie on the right.
They are the daughters of two colleagues of mine, Marcus and Lucy Woodhouse of Woodhouse IP, a boutique IP firm in Auckland. Marcus and Lucy are both lawyers who met while working as junior IP lawyers at my old firm, Baldwin Son & Carey, as it then was. Marcus instructed me on a case recently, but I hadn’t caught up with either of them face-to-face for some years. We are however friends on Facebook.
Earlier in 2023, I saw some lovely photos of their girls, being goofy and doing jumps on the beach. The photos were taken at Muriwai Beach in 2022. I asked Marcus and Lucy if I could paint them, which I did around Easter 2023. The family came up for lunch at our place at Omaha Beach in June. The girls came up with a name for the painting. I think it captures beautifully the spontaneity and joy of being young and being able to “dance in the clouds”, just as they say.
