Leith Walton’s ‘The Marvellous Misty Mystics’, at Synergy
I’d seen a lot of Leith Walton’s work and even seen him paint live at Bimbo Deluxe before I ever actually met the man.
That meeting only came last night when I attended his latest exhibition, ‘The Marvellous Misty Mystics’, which was held at Synergy on High Street in Northcote.
If you’ve ever been to Bar Etiquette on Sydney Road (and if you haven’t, you are missing the fuck out) you will most likely have glimpsed some of Leith’s art. In addition to his pieces hanging on the walls around the venue, he also painted some feature pieces such as the Chocolate Teapot Monster (a most lovable character), and everytime I go back there it seems there’s been something new added.
Leith’s pieces conjure up a dreamy atmosphere, quite otherworldly at times, and I find they tend to take me back to childhood a bit, or at least bring out the child within me. They tend to have a fairly playful vibe about them. But don’t just take my word for it – check out some of his work on his website.
‘The Marvellous Misty Mystics’ is a series of finely inked and watercoloured pieces, all based around the theme of tea drinking and the worlds you get lost in when you drink tea. Or at least, the worlds Leith gets lost in when Leith drinks tea. One of his pieces was of Damo – an apt subject, Damo being quite the tea-drinking, musical daydreamer himself.
Used with “assumed permission” from Damo. Ie. I assume he would give me permission if I actually asked.
Also during the evening I met Yvette, writer of the Vetti: Live in Northcote blog, of which I am a reader. Always good to put a face to the name of a blog I read!
Leith’s exhibition runs until April 10, so get down Synergy sometime during the next fortnight to check it out. One of the larger pieces had already been reserved for Mikey, one of the owners of Bar Etiquette, so hopefully it will be going up in the bar somewhere after the exhibition finishes.
Chocolate Teapot Monster, happy guardian of Bar Etiquette
x Kitten of Doom
Kitten of Doom 
Hi – lovely to meet you too! I hardly need an excuse to visit Bar Etiquette, next time I’ll look out for that Chocolate Teapot Monster…
Thanks for visiting! Very interesting reading about the Hotel California in Hawthorn, I drove past it recently and wondered about it, it must have been so cool in its heyday. I remember thinking it would be so cool for a fashion shoot.
And the Drewfunk stuff… super cute!!
Hi!
Thank you so much for coming along to my show, and thank you even more for what you said about my creations!
Oh and those big pieces are for another Michael! Mikey wishes he had them!
Thank you once again 🙂
No worries Leith; it’s a struggle to put my thoughts about things into words sometimes, I hope my words make some sort of sense. 🙂
I swear it said Michael Nicholas under one of the pictures, perhaps it was just wishful thinking?
B.