Garth Kay-Hards

I was born in South Africa in 1944 in a tiny town called Kokstad, in the foothills of the mountains. I loved any hobbies that I needed to do fine work with my hands. I enjoyed electronic projects and became a Radio Ham, I've made silver jewelry, do woodwork and metal work. I was employed as a computer programmer on mainframe computers way back in 1970.  I was married and have 2 children and while my wife and I did a number of craft hobbies we never tried to sketch or paint. After taking an early retirement I became a pastor on a team of pastors in a church in Pietermaritzburg. My son moved to Australia to support a church that he is now leading and my wife and I emigrated to join him in Melbourne in 2011. After 10 years of being here we are now on pension.

So how did I start painting? Early in 2023, early in my 79th year, my wife and I were talking about having always wanted to have art lessons and to try our hand at painting, so we decided to watch some of the tutorials on-line and then tried painting our 1st landscapes.  Then we found Matt Philleo's website and Facebook group. I really enjoyed using Matt's technique of glazing I successfully finished my 1st portrait of our 2 youngest grandchildren.  Thank you so much Matt for your tutorials.  We wish we had started many years ago.  I will certainly be doing some more portraits.