By ALESHA CAPONE
WITH his beret and colourful neck scarf, Frederick Salt looks every inch the Bohemian painter.
Colourful and creative paintings decorate the walls and surfaces of his Pascoe Vale house, in styles from German Expressionism to Impressionism.
“Someone gave me a book about Michelangelo at Christmas and I’m like him,” Mr Salt said.
“I work on many paintings at once and slowly get around to finishing them all.”
Alongside his long-time friend and fellow artist Beryl Stott, Mr Salt will hold an exhibition at Overnewton Castle in Keilor.
“I live and breathe painting,” Mr Jackson, a grandfather-of-three, said.
“I’m too old to be boastful, but I do have a very good imagination.
“My biggest challenge is to want to finish all the paintings before I drop off the twig.
“Painting uplifts you. You can be depressed or down, but take up a brush and get going, and then you realise you’ve been painting for two or three hours.”
Mr Jackson said his artwork often reflected his past experiences, but he liked the images to tell onlookers a story and convey emotions.
He first took up a paintbrush at school when aged around seven years.
“I hate mathematics, so when we had plays I would paint the backdrops,” he said.
Creativity seems to run in Mr Jackson’s family – one of his brothers is a musician and his other brother is a sculptor.
Mr Jackson grew up to join the Royal Navy when he was 18 and he served as an anti-aircraft gunner in World War II, before coming to Australia with his wife during the 1950s.
He first met Ms Stott through their shared hobby. The pair have been painting together for more than two decades.
Their exhibition will be on at The Stables Gallery, Overnewton Castle, Old Calder Highway in Keilor.
