Mark Hobley as “Propaganda for the Good Life”

Mark Hobley's Studio, paintings in process.

I had a nice surprise a couple of weeks ago.  Mark Hobley, who had seen a couple of my painting while I was in Venice, followed the clues and found me on Facebook.  He wrote a note and asked me to put the paintings aside for him.

We had a nice connection when we first met, he liked the paintings, said something about the “force” being with him and my eagle eye spotting his paint spattered earphone cord.  All this insured my gratitude for the chance meeting. We missed each other in Venice the next weekend, still, he had invited me over for tea.

I immediately recognized his art on Facebook.  I was looking forward to spending time with someone whose paintings I have admired.   His “love sign” painting had hung on my cork board.   I tore it out of a magazine a few years ago.

I called him from Hollywood around the time I was supposed to be at his house.  Very rude on my part, he laughed and said “a woman and artist, I expect you to be at least 45 minutes late.”  He assured me I need not worry, he would be painting and see me when I got there.

Hobley invited me in with a cup of tea.  He suggested milk and honey, knowing I am just off the road and these niceties are a treat.  He guessed I had not eaten and made english muffins with cream cheese and bright red, tasty strawberries.  A Venice twist on an English tradition.  His home is beautiful from every direction.   Mark Hobley lives in the sensibility of his paintings.  Symbols, textures and a bright pallet as well as the feeling of hope and well-being, lived in, refined.

Andrea LaHue's paintings on Mark Hobley's dinning room table.

Hobley had watercolors out on his dinning room table and had painted a sweet little “mind teaser” donkey with a baby in its’ belly.  We fell into conversation easily with his whimsical sense of humor and thoughtful nurturing.  He said when he was 12 or so, he had put a picture of Rauquel Welsh in one of his books.  When the teacher caught him looking at it and smiling, he got in trouble.  This buxom figure is still a muse for him and can be found in the layers of his paintings.  There is a white lamp on the side table to the left of the couch, made by a designer.  One likes the lamp immediately and then a little later, when you look at it, you realize it is made up of breasts upon breasts upon breasts.  He says it dawns on everyone at some point.  Everywhere you look in his space, you see the whimsy, beauty, symbols, layers and colors found  in his painting.  Even in the back yard, on his veranda you get the same feeling.  The stripes, colors, sculptures, flowers and plants are accentuated by the birds and humming birds singing, playing and flying through.

Hobley has raised a daughter and has a constant companion in Dixie, a mini and little darker version of Lily.  A little “muttlet”, chihuahua mix.  He let me bring Lily and Buckley in.  It worked for a while, but Lily was a bully and I was embarrassed.

 

Mark Hobley and Dixie in front of his Studio.

Hobely said his art was “Propaganda for the Good Life.”  I feel it and love the description.    His work, as all work, is imbued with the laws of attraction.  His natural inclination is of seeing, creating, releasing and regenerating the energy of the good life and it is palatable.  I love looking at paintings that make me feel good.  His are fun to stare at, always seeing something new in the layers, how things are peaking through, what becomes dominant as one thing, then the next, catch your eye.

I am honored to be included in his collection.  What a nice message from him and the energies that be.  Indeed, I am on the right path, in perfect time and the “force” is with me.

Ganesh and Bunnies in Mark Hobley's Studio.