Marina Jacobs: Paints in an impressionistic contemporary style. Photos: Melkbos.net
Marina Jacobs’ new art gallery in Rio Road is a happy place filled with colour and creativity. The Beach House Gallery @ MJ’s has only been open to the public for three weeks. But when you step inside the high volume interior of the gallery it feels established. Right.
Melkbos.net chatted to the artist in an alcove that features predominantly blue toned tranquil works. But elsewhere in the vast gallery the blues make way for bright, lyrical colours. There are seascapes, landscapes, abstract works and still lives. Some are grand, and some are priced absurdly low.
A love of landscape.
‘I always knew I would do this one day’
“I paint in an impressionistic contemporary style,” the former science teacher explains. She has always been creative; and managed to do water colours and embroider and make dolls in between teaching students biology and science and hockey. “My mother gets very angry at me,” she says, smiling ruefully. “She wants to know what has become of all the things I’ve made.”
Now bold, now playful
Three years ago Marina decided to leave teaching and pursue her artistic career in earnest. The resulting journey has been bold.
Marina has not opted for one subject matter. She paints seascapes and farms and still lives and people. Her canvasses can be joyful, or introspective and moody.
Looking at the canvasses surrounding her she muses aloud, “I’m grateful that I’ve got children who are critical of me. My son says he doesn’t like my abstract works as they keep his brain too busy. He loves my seascapes.”
‘My enthusiasm and energy levels go ‘boom”
Virtually any art lover will find something to his or her taste in this gallery. There are canvasses that will be valuable additions to smart drawing rooms. Small colourful artworks in acrylic are tucked inside drawers of a cupboard. They’re priced absurdly low, so that this journo protests. Marina brushes the protest aside. Her artistic journey has not been about money or fame, but about obeying her instincts. “When I haven’t been painting for a while I start to feel lonesome,” she explains. “Things become … quiet… When I start to create again everything comes alive again and my enthusiasm and energy levels go ‘boom.’
Art lovers planning on attending the art exhibition on Friday the 3rd of March at Beach House Gallery @ MJ’s: additional security has been arranged with a security company to make this a safe event.
For more information about The Beach House Gallery @ MJ’s, contact Marina Jacobs at jacobsm.rio@lantic.net
