Boyhood brushstrokes DICK'S UNIQUE CHILDHOOD

The artist has drawn a picture of his younger days – and it's a masterpiece!

- Elisabeth Easther

Celebrated Kiwi artist Dick Frizzell is one heck of a happy man. Married for 61 years to his beloved wife Jude, the young lovebirds met in 1960 while studying at Ilam School of Fine Arts.

“I arrived in Christchurch a gormless boy of 17 and all the girls looked like Joan Baez, then I saw Jude,” recalls Dick, 81. “We even had our first baby at art school, which was a bit of a bohemian thing to do.”

Six decades on, Dick and Jude are still going strong. Proud parents of Juliet, Josh and Otis, at last count, they had five grandchildren and two great-grandkids, Florence, four, and Violet, one.

Dick is also chipper because his memoir Hastings: A Boy’s Own Adventure has been released - and it is charming.

“The book began a few years back when Radio New Zealand ran a short story competition and I had this idea to write something from my childhood because I was a bit of an oddball growing up,” explains Dick.

But there was a hitch - published authors weren’t allowed to enter. While Dick didn’t actually see himself as a published author, despite having released a few art books, Nicola Leggat [publisher at Massey University Press] suggested it could be an impediment.