JANINE GOOD

The Lost Balloon

A Sunday Afternoon at the Country Race Day,

Oil on canvas 120x180cm

This painting, originally called ‘The Lost Balloon’ is an historical depiction of the last Pakenham Cup race day held in Pakenham township before the land was carved up for real estate with a new course redeveloped out of town. The painting symbolises the changing nature of outer regional towns being swallowed up by the suburban sprawl.

The Pakenham Racecourse in the heart of the town had facilitated the Pakenham Races for many years but was also considered a community hub by many locals as it was also the venue for the Pakenham Agricultural Show and where local school sports were held. So, for some locals, it was the lost balloon of many childhood memories.

An imaginary narrative of the young girl in the foreground watching as her balloon drifts away captures the sense of community with a picnic atmosphere. Suburban houses encroach on the perimeter of the track.

 

The composition is modelled on French Impressionist painter Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand Jatte,1884 and the title of ‘The Lost Balloon’ was later changed to ‘A Sunday Afternoon at the Country Race Day’ to better acknowledge the connection. The reclining figure front left is directly out of Seurat’s painting with some modification to integrate him into his new modern setting. The proportions were very close to the Seurat painting and both images have a strong social community theme so it seemed a good fit to place the track where the river was, the grandstand where a group of trees stood and substituted groups of people from photos generously provided by Gembrook artist Sue Jarvis taken on the last Race day.

During the painting of The Lost Balloon I became ‘fascinated by the fascinators’ and hats and fashions in general at the race day and started some paintings of these. This kind of fashion is quite exclusive to the races, I can’t think of any other public event where hats feature so creatively.