LIVING, THINKING + BEING WHO IS CARL WATKINS? Carl Watkins, owner of Trucolor Hair Salon ‘the specialist colour salon that cuts’, discusses his return to Ponsonby and the introduction of his one-on-one specialised haircare services. Carl, how do you define yourself? I’m a specialised provider of quality colour and hairdressing services for women... being one of the few winners, of the Schwarzkopf New Zealand Hairdresser of the Year award, and with over 30 years’ experience, I feel pretty confident about knowing that I provide a quality service to my clients. What gives you the greatest satisfaction in your job? Making women feel fantastic. There’s an art to it and it stems from great communication. When I meet with a client, there is literally only one chair in my salon and the experience is all about them. I get to know what kind of person they are, what kind of haircut and colour they need to fit in with their lifestyle and how they see themselves. Some women like to spend time styling their hair every day, others don’t. Change can be dramatic or incremental. It’s up to the client. They have to be comfortable with the process. Why should the women of Ponsonby and surrounds come to see you? I’m good at what I do. I looked after Pamela Anderson when she came to New Zealand Fashion Week, I have done Hillary Clinton’s hair and launched many international hair brands in New Zealand and overseas. I apply the same professionalism and care to all of my clients. “Besides, when was the last time you had a New Zealand Hairdresser of the Year do your hair?” F PN TRUCOLOR (by appointment only), Eden Terrace, T: 09 359 9311 www.trucolor.co.nz
CLARE CALDWELL: THE ART OF LIVING “To paint is to love again.” So said the young Henry Miller, who at the age of 37, while he was supposed to be writing the great American novel, bought his first watercolours and brushes in the midst of his yet-to-be-published poverty. He was soon painting “morning, noon and night” and beginning to explore the eternal question of what art is, and what makes one an artist. Miller argued that the intensity of the artist’s own emotions was the life-blood of art. “It is only when we look with eyes of love that we see as the artist sees... making us see and feel what ordinarily we ignore or are immune to. To see is not merely to look. One must look into and around. Seeing without feeling is merely a report. The practise of any art demands one must be in love with what one does. In love, self is obliterated. One must be in it and of it wholly. Before a subject can be transmuted aesthetically it must be devoured and absorbed. If it is a painting it must perspire with ecstasy.” Never daring to call himself a painter, Miller initially painted as respite from writing - a strategy many celebrated creators have used: e.g. Einstein called this “combinatory play” and is said to have come up with his greatest physics breakthroughs during his violin playing breaks. However, Miller became besotted with painting. “I was seeing everything in a new light. The impression I had was of painting with some other part of my being.” Through this new medium he was experiencing, maybe for the first time, the ancient transcendence and lateral connections of the right brain. He also found the allure of what had become his ‘style’ of painting. It was unlike his writing, its superior, almost primitive sincerity and directness of vision, of which only children and rare adult artists are true masters. “Children have much to teach us about risk, failure and growth.” Which all begs the question: would he have been such a successful writer if he’d not had this experience of painting? Miller’s final advice to young artists all those decades ago seems doubly important now in our present age of preoccupation with networking, easy exposure and instant validation and ‘success’. “How distressing it is to hear young painters talking about dealers, shows, newspaper reviews, rich patrons. All that comes with time - or will never come. First one must make friends, create them through one’s work. What sustains the artist is the look of love in the eye of the beholder. Not the money, not the right connections, not the exhibitions, not the flattering reviews. To win through by sheer force of genius is one thing; to survive and continue to create when every last door is slammed in one’s face is another. Nobody acquires genius - it is God-given. But one can acquire patience, fortitude, wisdom, understanding. Perhaps the greatest gift is to love what one does whether it causes a stir or not.” PN (CLARE CALDWELL) F Clare (Claudie) Caldwell is a creative arts therapist who runs a small private practice from home. She now runs a voluntary art therapy programme at Auckland City Mission. She is also a freelance artist. Enquiries: T: 09 836 3618; M: 021 293 3171; E: clare.e.caldwell@gmail.com
72 PONSONBY NEWS+ August 2015
PUBLISHED FIRST FRIDAY EACH MONTH (except January)