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From camera to canvas Thelma in her studio. In recent years she has become a very successful painter.
‘Environment is so important..’ Thelma Mansfield’s dogs clearly agree. Her pug Puffin, seated on her lap, is trying to eat her make-up. Alongside her, Jack Russell Sally, snuggled against Thelma’s husband Johnny, clearly appreciates their urban nest in South Dublin. By any standards, it’s a lovely period home, dating to 1802, and set back from the hum of busy road traffic. Thelma’s choice of soft, muted colours perfectly sets off the receptions rooms’ high ceilings and walls filled with paintings, photographs and tapestries. At the rear is a walled garden, a perfect setting for her studio.
Lorna Hogg talks to former TV star Thelma Mansfield who is now carving out a successful career as a painter. Gloup_advert 160mm H X 126mmH FA.pdf
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15/11/2017
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She is just as busy now as during that Live at 3 decade, and clearly relishes challenges just as much now as did the youthful sixteen year old who applied for an RTE continuity announcer job back in 1965. From 1986-97, alongside Derek Davis, she became an even more familiar face, for the flagship afternoon show. So, when it was cancelled, just how did she cope? ‘It’s quite hard to remember.’ she chuckles. ‘I had started evening lessons at a refreshment art course in UCD. Remember also, before I left RTE, I had already changed into into another routine, another style, doing promos and voice-overs, but it wasn’t the same as presenting. I just decided that art was for me. It was also a good time at home to do this – the children were the right age. Had they been younger it would have been too difficult, being out of the house, a studio and all that.’
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She took at short course at UCD ‘ a gang of us – we became great friends.’Thelma decided that oils was her preferred choice. ‘We took pages out of international art catalogues, and attempted to paint them – right outside my comfort zone.’
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Her husband Johnny had ‘always encouraged and pressured me to paint landscapes and portraits of the children.’ Yet whilst Thelma had always wanted to become a professional painter, she needed a lot of encouragement to put her work into the public domain. ‘So those six little visits to UCD really helped. I wasn’t afraid to face a blank canvas.’ There was also the challenge faced by all who move from organised work to self-employment. ‘In RTE, I had a set routine. At 9.am. I went into hairstyling. Make-up at 10am, wardrobe at 10.20. Then down to the studio floor, and rehearsals and recordings. All that interaction – and then I chose a solitary career!’ Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 35
