Cherished lost paintings of Bognor Regis artist sought to commemorate milestone

Martin Mellon wanted to honour his late mother, Martina Thomas, by commemorating the milestone and has already drawn together hundreds of examples of her artworks.

But many cherished pieces remain missing and, having recently purchased four found in a lock-up garage in Littlehampton, Martin hopes the rest can be traced locally.

He said: "She was a professional artist and spent as much time as she could painting in her studio. Martina Thomas’s art has touched many lives, and each of her paintings holds a special place in the history of her creative journey.

"Unfortunately, some of her works have been lost over the years. We have gathered pictures of these missing paintings and displayed them in the Catalogue Raisonne in the hope that they may be found and brought back to their rightful place."

Martina lived with her husband Eric Mellon in Parkfield Avenue, Aldwick, from 1956 to 1995. She painted still life, landscape views across the countryside, Cornish harbour and sea views, zoo animals and pets, life-room studies and home life.

Martin said: "She quickly developed the way she liked to work quite early on in her early 20s. It never involved the use of any modern technologies that are easily available today, as they were not invented or available back then.

"When choosing to go out landscape painting in her 20s, she would cycle to the viewpoint with equipment in the basket on the handlebars. Later years, her husband would drive her to where she wanted to go and be dropped off and collect her later.

"It very rarely involved any oil paint, instead spending the time finding the ideal viewpoint, sitting down on her folding stool and drawing what she saw in front of her, either in pencil or using an ink pen nib, dipping in the bottle when required. Written colour reminder notes were added to the drawing to remind herself of what she had seen, when she returned to her studio to compose and create the oil painting. "

She painted mainly on hardboard sheets, cut to size by Eric, and occasionally canvas. Small amounts of her favourite colours would be squeezed out on her mixing palette and the process of mixing the correct colour to be used started, adding a little bit of turpentine to make the paint flow smoothly.

Martin said: "As you look through the Catalogue Raisonne looking at her paintings you will see how they developed over the years. The ones she painted in the 1960s were less colourful compared with the ones painted in the 1980s. The main reason for this was the availability of the oil paints to her and what she could afford to buy."

Around 1970, Martina started using a more colourful mixture of oil paint tube colours, then in the late 1980s, she decided to experiment with using several mini palette knives to apply her mixed colour blends to the canvas – a technique she was not completely satisfied with as she preferred the accuracy of using a paint brush.

The Catalogue Raisonne has been published at www.martinathomas.co.uk as a curated website for all to view.

Martin said: "What I thought might take three weeks actually took nine months to complete. It lists, with ID numbers and photographs, more than 600 of her artworks that she created over her lifetime, into subject matters and locations.

"The Framed Gallery section shows many examples of her finest work, with several more to be added over the coming months. I do hope that it might be of some interest and hope that many will explore the website content.

"I would be grateful if anyone knows of the whereabouts of any of paintings listed in the Lost Paintings section of the website, I would be delighted to know where they are and be able to include them in the CR. Having recently purchased four found in a lock-up garage in Littlehampton, I am ever hopeful that they are somewhere in Bognor Regis area."

Martina was born in Manor Park, London, on January 26, 1924, and completed an NDD in fine art at Saint Martin's School of Art before moving to an artist community in Hillesden, where she continued to develop her drawing and oil painting techniques.

Five of her works were chosen for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, a portrait of Mrs Edwards in 1952, Still Life in 1954, Autumn Landscape in 1955, a landscape view of Chapel Street, Bognor Regis, in 1957 and Lychees on a Cloth in 1960.

Martina and Eric were married in 1956 and moved to a new house in Bognor Regis in 1957. A purpose-built studio space was added as an extension in 1963 and central heating was added in 1978, making it usable all year round.

Despite being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993, Martina continued painting when she could. Sadly, the cancer spread and developed into Stage 4 in 1995. Martina died at St Wilfrid's Hospice in Chichester on March 17, 1995, aged 71.