Recognized as a brilliant writer and intrepid traveler, Christine Wilson is also a gourmet chef – she has authored several books on cooking - and has even made a brief foray into the world of haute couture fashion design.

Today we are privileged to view another facet of this remarkable lady.

Coming from a pedigree that boasts the likes of Spittel and van Dort – her grandfather W G van Dort was the youngest brother of the famous J L K van Dort – and consequently having grown up under the influence of artists Grace and Ernest van Dort (children of JLK) and the highly gifted Aline van Dort - her mother’s sister, it was only natural that Christine should find painting second nature to her. Add to this the influence of the remarkable Dr R L Spittel and you have all the ingredients for a multi-faceted and multi-talented individual.

Christine’s early forays into the world of art was to illustrate her childhood writings – unfortunately we were unable to locate any of these – a little deeper digging and it would not surprise me to find that these too are carefully preserved in the family archives. What we did discover however were notes from Aunt Aline, encouraging her young niece to paint, with detailed descriptions of how to set about the task.

Growing up on jungle trails with her father and guided by his passion for discovery, her love for nature drew her to scenes of landscapes and wildlife and in the 1960’s she turned to the island’s foremost landscape painters of the time, Ivor Baptist and Donald Ramanayake for guidance. Donald Ramanayake in particular was the mentor who most influenced her early work and they remained in touch over the years as close friends.

The 1970’s saw Christine and her husband Alistair residing in Kenya, in close proximity to nature at its best. The forest that bordered their home and the spectacular landscapes they witnessed on their many expeditions were to inspire a fresh burst of artistic outpourings in Christine. Driven to capture the myriad images she encountered, she sought out and found the ideal tutor in Keith Harrington.

A brilliant teacher and kindred spirit whose love for nature matched her own, Harrington was an outstanding artist in his own right and under the guidance of KH (as he often signed his own work), Christine’s work was to reach a new level. We see in her paintings of this and subsequent periods a new mastery of brushstroke and adept use of pallet knife that can only come with a heightened confidence in ability. Her paintings were at last truly impressionistic. I would even venture to place some of her work as amongst the best done in the impressionistic idiom, by a Sri Lankan artist.

The time had come for a fresh challenge – and Christine now only in her early 60’s – found herself drawn to explore the medium of porcelain painting. She studied this challenging art form and soon produced some excellent pieces which she herself considers to be the better of her work in the two media.

Christine held three exhibitions of her paintings in Nairobi and journeyed to South Africa, Australia and Washington to exhibit and attend workshops on porcelain art. While much of her work had been sold at these shows, what we see on exhibition today are those that remained in her personal collection - unfortunately, we can only guess at what we have missed.

Those who have read Christine’s memoirs may recognize some of the scenes painted by her, as her paintings are, in a sense, an extension of her writings – particularly her scenes of Africa, where viewers will be afforded a visual representation of some of what she has so vividly described in words. Visitors to the exhibition can look forward to enjoying a visual journey of far-flung places that some of us have not even read about.

Dora Tomulic who briefly taught art in Sri Lanka, once mentioned that back in Croatia, aspiring artists were referred to merely as painters and that only once they had established a complete mastery of their skills and been accepted into the higher echelons of the art establishment, were they allowed to call themselves artists.

Today we can confidently say that Christine Spittel Wilson has come of age as a true artist.