I am now the proud owner of this beautiful painting by Mary Jane Orley. There are few objects that I’ve bought that have seemed such a thoroughly good idea and that have ended up giving me so much pleasure. The painting is called ‘Encounter’ and formed part of Mary Jane’s beautiful show at The Gate House Gallery in Guernsey last month. It is now hanging in my front room above a rarely used television and it shines out across the room and throughout the house, a beacon of the positive and beautiful, a shimmering blast of colour and energy; it quite simply uplifts me. It felt good buying it. I am often saddened when so many people sniff at actually putting their hand in their pocket and buying art. There is at times a mistrust towards what artists do and many feel that spending a few hundred pounds on a piece of art that will last a lifetime and beyond is a huge expenditure whilst feeling quite comfortable paying thousands for a television that will be obsolete in a few short years. 

This summer our television goes away but the painting stays put. It will share my lifetime and no doubt many others. I can look into it and see anything I want – it takes me on a journey beneath the sea and through the clouds. I can actually go there. There are few television sets that can boast the same. This painting is a Mary Jane Orley energy injection and I am so very, very glad I get to enjoy it every day.