By Heidi Trautmann
The newly discovered art venue at the Public Library in Kyrenia hosted an art exhibition by Michael Raine from May 18 – 21 showing his collection of paintings for the first time as a solo show, 37 paintings in oil, acrylic and water colour, still lives and landscapes.
Michael Raine, born in 1933 in Manchester, came to Cyprus in 1996 after he had retired from the stage as actor and director. He had studied English language and literature at the Durham University and acting and directing at the Royal Academy and Drama Art. A full and creative life. His second passion became painting from school days on; one painting he has exhibited in the current exhibition stems from the early university days, a copy of Vermeer’s milkmaid, a picture his mother loved dearly, he said. It was customary to do copies from old masters to learn the use of colours, brush stroke and composition. It is a very good copy just as the other three copies he did which were not for sale.
His still lives painted in oil are influenced by the impressionists as it was the habit in our young days in Western Europe. Michael Raine shows a love for the detail and has a very good feeling for colours and a fine brush stroke. He had joined the Edremit Art College in Edremit brought into life by Roger Anderson where most of the creative artistic crowd of the island came together and took a course in watercolour given by Marilyn Bosworth. There are some fine watercolours done by him, landscapes of Cyprus, and nice still lives; many of these were sold.
Today Michael Raine tries his brush in a more modern art style, a little abstract, geometric. I like it. When I asked him what his philosophy behind his art activity was, he replied: “…to get better, what else!”