By Monica Jones
We usually reserve birthday greetings in Sunbury Matters for centenarians. But this lady is an exception!
Daphne Clement, our popular and colourful Sunbury artist, turns 80 this month. Happy birthday and many returns!
I met Daphne when I first set up Sunbury Matters in 2010 and over the years we have become friends. Talking to her about her painting she announced to me one day that she was going to “go global”. She was always full of ideas about how to use her paintings to reach a wider audience. She invested in a hot press to enable her to make mugs from her garden studio. She put her designs on placemats, coasters, calendars and cushion covers and her cards have always been popular. She has indeed gone global! These gifts have made it all around the world!
Daphne came to Sunbury in 1953 when she was only 10. She has played an active part in the community. A scientist by background, she is a self-taught artist and has created her own very recognisable style. Her watercolours have a light style and capture the essence of Sunbury and the local area which she loves. She paints from the heart and is loath to take on commissions. So each painting is a little bit of her. Her depiction of trees and the river throughout the seasons, and bird life on Rivermead Island where she has walked her various dogs over the years, or typical Sun-bury scenes such as the Christmas carols on Orchard Meadow. See above (how we miss them!). She has also documented local groups such as the Sunbury Music nights at the cricket club, the Sunbury Ferry and the Spelthorne Tree Wardens. Over her career as an artist she has preserved images of buildings which have disappeared or changed in the village. The Flower Pot for example, which has changed in appearance significantly while she has lived in Sunbury. Or Wil-son’s boatyard, since burned down and demolished.
Active in the community throughout her life, she was involved in raising funds for the Riverside Arts Centre in the 1970s when the community had the chance of buying it. She had the idea of asking celebrities for personal items which would be auctioned. The response was phenomenal and she was even given a pair of Elton John’s platform boots which she is seen wearing above!
She continues to make us smile with her now regular post box toppers on the post box outside Skinners.
You can see Daphne’s gallery of paintings on her website daphneclement.com. Happy Birthday Daphne and thank you!