I was delighted to visit Norman Lindsay’s property in the Blue Mountains. He was an extraordinary man who lived from 1879 to 1969 and he was a writer as well as a children’s writer poet and illustrator, a wartime cartoonist, a propaganda poster designer, artist, garden designer and sculptor. His home is now an art gallery owned by the National Trust of NSW. As an artist and sculptor he was self-taught; he loved nature and celebrated it in his work.
He first entered my life as the creator of ‘The Magic Pudding’ a book which came into my hands when I was about 8. I loved it and read it over and over again. It gave me my first concept of Australia and of Australian people. I thought all Aussies were like the characters in ‘The Magic Pudding’ – Bunyip Bluegum and his companions Uncle Wattleberry and Sam Sawnoff, not to mention the very rude and outspoken Pudding himself on his spindly legs!
Here is a selection of images of Norman’s beautiful property in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. All the sculptures are by Norman Lindsay and one of the fragrant wisteria on the columns of the verandah is one he planted himself.
scskillman.com 