Eleanor
Easton was born in Richmond, Victoria, the second of four children. She
had a very happy childhood, and her love of the arts was encouraged by her
parents from an early age, with elocution, gymnastic and dancing lessons.
Her
father, Charles, came from a very musical family. He played the piano and
the family sang together in the evenings. They also sang along to all the
popular tunes on the radio.
Charles Easton was
not a well man and when she was 14, Eleanor went to work in an office to
help supplement the family income. However, her ambition stretched beyond
the life of an office clerk:
by the age of 16, she'd
taught herself how to sew (designing her own clothes because patterns were
too expensive) and began rehearsing her two sisters in an
Australian cover band of the Andrews Sisters. The Easton Sisters were an
immediate success and within a few years they were constantly in demand,
singing for returned soldiers from the Second World War.
By the
time she was 19, she had passed her A.L.C.M., A.M.S.V. and L.L.C.M.
Elocution Exams, had been teaching elocution for four years, and she
continued to teach Speech and Drama until just before the death of her
husband in 1997.
"I don't think about
aging: each day for me is a time of day.
How do I feel? I feel
two o'clock Thursday afternoon."
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In the
year that Eleanor turned 50, everything changed. She lost a purse with
$800 in it (about 2 weeks average wage at that time) and this was the
catalyst that sent her back into the work force. At a time when most of us
start to slow down, take stock and relax, Eleanor went into the next gear
and kick-started a new phase of her life.
She
decided to try her hand at “art” – the long-dormant talent came to the
surface, and so began a
journey that was to become a lifelong passion.
“My tutoring began
in oils with Jan and Lance McNeil, then to Beryce Ireland, to
TheVictorian Artists Society where I had wonderful teachers like
Barbara Beasley-Southgate, Brian Armstrong and Barbara McManus, who
introduced me to the wonders of pastel.
I succumbed to the
lure of watercolour and spent time with David Taylor and Alvaro
Castagnet with whom I travelled to Spain in 2000 on a watercolour
painting holiday - that was a life changing experience!”
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It was with
the encouragement of Barbara McManus, who had become her friend, that she
began teaching 12 years ago and
and she has been conducting
her own Art School ever since.
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“In the mid-90s I became
associated with Fine Art Products who import TALENS (Rembrandt) art
supplies from Holland. This is was the greatest fun any artist could
have!
I joined the firm when they
participated in the newly formed Art Expos presented in Sydney,
Melbourne, and Canberra, as the demonstrator of all their art
products, particularly of anything new that arrived from overseas.
This widened my horizons, and
strengthened my resolve to know as much as I could not only about
art but also of the materials required in all fields. This is
an ongoing quest.”
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Action Woman: Aerobics is
her game |
Eleanor started
callisthenics aged four and hasn't stopped exercising since. Despite
being in her seventies, her energy seems boundless.
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She teaches aerobics
four times a week to a group of students who range in age from 40 to
90.
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· In 1989 she led a
crowd of 1000 people at the Sydney Myer Music Bowl in the Botanic
Gardens with a program of Exercise-to-Music for the Older Adult.
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· In November 2002, with
the assistance of her daughter, Shaula, she conducted a very
successful one-day “Fountain of Youth” seminar at The Ashwood
International, Ashwood. |
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"I believe in the passion for life
and I know that it is an important part of life
to move the body: move it, move it, move it!
Expending energy gives you energy."
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Some of Eleanor's Work
click on the thumbnails to see a larger image
