My name is Gary Owens and I am Marinella’s husband. For 14 years I ran my own art gallery in the south of Switzerland, first in Locarno then in Lugano. The gallery sold mostly reproductions and posters because I didn’t have enough money to invest in art, however, I did organise several exhibitions and worked with different artists. The fact that I was selling posters meant in the end that many people came into the gallery who would probably not  have normally visited an art gallery or even a museum. This fact gave me the idea of separating the two activities, a kind of museum shop on one hand and an art gallery on the other. My idea was to sponsor the art gallery with the sales from the museum shop, unfortunately what actually happen was that the art gallery sucked the museum shop dry. Most of the artists who showed their work to my public did not realise the expense, not only financial, but also mental and physical, and so tired and demotivated I sold the Galleria Owens in 1994. I have also had a profound interest in art since the age of 19, my first girlfriend was an artist, my best friend in England was an artist, I worked for some years in Bristol as a stage hand and was slowly becoming a scenic painter, so even if I changed my life turned myself into a Pro golfer at 40 years old my love of art never faded. When after knowing Marinella on and off for some years she told me that she was an artist and that she had made her own web-site, I was more than ready to tell her to drop it and critise her work. Instead, the opposite happened, I was surprised at her talent. The subject matter was a little niave perhaps, but there was no mistaking that she could paint. One of her greatest talents is in her sense of colouring, believe me I have consequently seen her mix paint on many occasions and it is a talent, an intuitive operation. I decided then and there that I would not only help and encourage her, but that I would share my vast artistic knowledge with her. I have probably written enough for now, but I will continue to write on this blog of the difficulties that Marinella has because she is an artist who is also a wife and a mother.

Hi, my name is Marinella Owens and this is my new blog. From now on I and my colleagues at Marinella-Art will be writing regularly on this blog about art, past, present and future. We hope you will join in our conversations, we have some pretty strong opinions, especially when you don’t agree with what we’re saying, and thanks to the translation possibility from Google you can write in your own language. So looking forward to hearing from you,

“embracing forgotten values”

Marinella