Hand colouring, according to Shaune Lakin,
“requiresanincredibleamountofskill,
whichyourecogniseonceyou’vecomeacross
some that look terrible, obviously done by
peoplewhodon’tunderstandhowtocoloura
photograph properly. The ones coming out of
really good studios, including Whites, were
done by extremely capable painters.” Why
itwasalldonebywomen(whichwasthe
caseinmanycountries)isdebatable–some
peoplesuggestitwasbecausethepaywasn’t
great,orthatitwasviewedasalesstechnical
jobthanthephotographyitself.According
toRawson,though,“Weweremoreartistic
–thegirlsatWhiteswereallverykeenon
artofsometype,andweallhadsomeidea
of colour and form.”
OneofRawson’stasksatWhiteswastopaint
thefirstversionofaphotograph,whichthe
othercolouristsusedasaguide.Unlessshe
was given colour references for, say, specific
farmbuildings,shewasabletouseher
imagination. “Mr Stewart was quite happy
withmyideasofcolour.”
Highqualityoilpaint–Winsor&Newton–
wasusedforthejob,butgreatlydilutedwith
turpentine,soitcouldbesmearedacross
the surface of the photographs or dotted
carefully onto smaller elements. “Sometimes
theturpentinewasabitnasty,”saysRawson.
“We’dgetrashesfromusingtoomuch.”
Photo courtesy Loading DocsRather than using brushes, the painting was
done using canes with a point at one end.
“We’d roll cotton wool really tightly around
the point,” Rawson says. “Almost like a cotton
wool bud. Brushes would have made the paint
too thick – we just wanted a coating.”The paintings ranged in size, from 40x30
centimetres, which would take about a
morning to do, right up to “massive big murals
that three of us would work on at a time – one
of us would be standing on a stool.” The usual
way to work, says Rawson, would be from top
to bottom, starting with the sky. “But if it was
trees, you’d start with the trees and then fill
them in behind. Sometimes you’d have to go
back over one part and put in more light or
something like that, or change an effect.”There was nothing production-line about
the work – orders would come in from
approved retailers, and these would be filled,
one by one. “We wouldn’t do a whole string of
one subject – maybe two or three at one time.
I never got bored.” Before any of the photos
were dispatched, Stewart would look them
over, and when approved, give each one of
them the ‘Whites’ signature in the corner.Everyone had their favourite types of landscape
to paint, and for Rawson it was mountains.
“I’m very happy when I’m in mountainous
areas, especially in Otago. You’d get thebluey-purple mountains and the goldy, tufted
grasses, and the little shepherd’s huts.” Not so
much fun, she says, were the huge murals with
lots of tiny houses. “They were more fiddly
and it took longer to work out how to get the
colours right. I liked the sweeping landscapes
where you could get more colour on.”The studio would be fairly quiet, she
says, as the work needed a fair degree of
concentration, but the girls were all great
friends. “We didn’t have a lot of money to
spread around, so we’d mostly bring our own
food in to work and make toasted sandwiches
in the little kitchen.” Outside work hours, they
would socialise or even go on holiday together.
Altogether, she says, “we had a marvellous
time – it was a very friendly place to work
and we had wonderful bosses.”Sixty years later, Rawson, now 84 and
permanently in hospital, can still recognise
her own paintings. “Just from the colours –
I can look at one and remember doing it.
A couple of years ago I went into this pub,
right by the lake in Queenstown. I sat down
to have lunch and I’m looking straight across
at a great big mural of the town I did years
before – it was very exciting. We were always
so involved when we were painting that I
would know, ‘Oh yes, I remember putting
that bit of light on the hillside.’ It’s easy to
pick them out.” •<<