The Path Back
How $10 and gut instinct rekindled the artistic fire for this pragmatic artist.
Ihave been painting since 1975, using in order: oils, watercolours, pencils, and more often nowadays, pastels. Painting for me started at primary school, along with a few Saturday morning classes after my teacher said I should take some formal lessons. Some years later, during High School, I found a strong liking and talent for Technical Drawing and, although having achieved good marks and several suggestions from my schooling tutors, I diverted away from a career along those lines due to a lack of confidence with my ability to conquer the maths required for that topic.
Immediately after leaving school I was employed with an advertising agency, but within a matter of months I changed horses and became employed in the oil industry. That was year 1952.
That career, in total, lasted for a couple of months less than 30 years. It all came to an end after some medical problems following open heart surgery. That amounted to being on a disability pension which continued until my normal retirement age. That was year 1982. Quite a few years prior to me leaving the work scene, I had visions of adding to my academic qualifications with a diploma in business
management. I applied to Bathurst University (NSW), and was granted a place and put on the list for part-time studying. All the papers came in for the first of the course material, but a personal hiccup occurred which forced me to abandon the whole idea.
I was still determined to do something and, for some unknown reason, I thought of my past interests in art, went out with a whole $10 in my pocket and purchased a few cheap oil paints, a couple of cheap and nasty brushes and a couple of small canvas boards. I had absolutely no idea where to start, no subjects in mind, no tactics at all. The materials sat on a shelf at home for three months and then I just started! I painted a couple of old time Aussie homesteads, showed them to a local gallery where the owner thought they were terrible, but took them in anyway. They sold within two weeks and I had a request for a few more. I started gathering photos from wherever I could find them and painted when I could. My references were many and varied.
I sold art through galleries on commission, I was commissioned to do oils on canvas, greeting cards and one gallery asked me to provide sets of 50 little watercolours for the tourist trade. I enjoyed it all and wondered how this had all just seemingly dropped in on me. Strangely, very strangely, my Uncle had passed away just a matter of three months prior to me starting this artwork. His career had been a commercial artist and an excellent one at that. Those circumstances gave me a lot to reflect on over the later years. That was all very coincidental. Then, in 1979 came my heart surgery, then a lot of later problems and the eventual end to my career. I spent much of my time painting and most of the pieces just gathered dust. A few sales kept
me in materials and the cliché of the starving artist all became well known to me. Just as well I was not dependent on it to live!
I eventually moved to Queensland to the quiet little township of Ningi, near Bribie Island, which is north of Brisbane. And there I started doing casual art, leaving some with a couple of galleries on commission and did some on-and-off courses in commercial art and cartooning. I ended up with five qualifications which really just meant I had done some studies, but with no fantastic results or any sort of income. I started doing weekly cartoons for the local newspaper, some for a couple of magazines and eventually some of my art was going overseas. I was pumped.
I joined a small art group and we did a number of exhibitions as a group. That group eventually folded, as most of them do, and I have continued solo ever since. Moving forward to the present day, I now combine art with a newer creative interest .... gemstones, which I have been cutting and selling for about 20 years. The two interests combine well, but the artwork has come back strongly over the past year or so and fortunately, with a more relaxed approach on my part, my work is more enjoyable for me and it has reflected in a few better sales and some more outside interest.
When I look back over the years to 1975, I see art for me as a source of activity in a time of disinterest, just something to fill in a gap. I certainly didn’t start art with any grandiose idea of being the next Michelangelo, or maybe the next Rubens. I didn’t even think of it as a possible source of some extra cash. It was purely a way to fill in extra time. I didn’t go to any particular gallery to take in the masters, or to pick up a few tricks, or see if I could work out their methods. I didn’t go to openings, to be seen or to mix. I didn’t know anyone in those circles anyway .... I think, with the few people I did mix with and who were also doing a bit of artwork, we just enjoyed each other’s company and joked about how awful our pieces looked compared to others, wherever we may have exhibited. We had broken frames, smudges, misspelt name tags and a multitude of other errors to begin our art careers, but just plain had fun with it all.
Once I began getting somewhat serious, I grabbed some books on some artists whom I admired, including Norman Lindsay for his cartooning. I never really had an artist from the past or present whom I looked up to, with the single exception
of Constable. I loved detail and I thought that showed in his work. During this same time, I bought some books on painting, in particular mediums which I had taken a liking to, and so I worked my way from oil to watercolours, pen and wash, pencils, and more lately, pastels. I have never actually mastered any one of these but dabbled enough to feel I have achieved what I want out of any of them at the time.
I sometimes think the art world can get a bit carried away with itself, by taking things and themselves a little too seriously. (I’m now old enough to get away with that kind of comment, without attracting bad press from other arty types). I have not won any great awards, although I did win a first prize in a local show back in 1998 or 1999.However, I have thoroughly enjoyed my journey and to me that’s what counts. Bear in mind, I’m not a professional, it’s not my career and unless that’s what a new chum wants, then enjoy it while you can .... that way, you will achieve much, probably sell a few and make many friends to boot.
Just before I finish here, you should know why I like what I do. I treat each new piece as something which should be better than my last one. If it’s not, I don’t get all upset. I have thrown away so many messed up art pieces on paper and canvas ... I could fill a bin with it all. I usually take a break and start another
one which more than likely has no bearing whatsoever on my previous piece. In other words I don’t labour over failings. I try something new ... entirely new. If it was my career, it would be different. But it’s not. If you are the same as me, and most of you are, and if you are not (yet) professionals, then take your time, experiment, enjoy the moment and you will achieve your goal.
My demonstration in this issue is akin to some art pieces I have already done in the past. The original piece reached my expectations and so I’m happy to redo something akin to it, with all the same approach factors I used with the original piece. I hope you’ll work along with me, try my methods and then try one with a topic of your own choice. One thing to always keep in mind with painting...whether or not it’s for fun, for a friend or a sale, is to plan ahead. Art is no different to anything in life, so plan ahead and you will succeed. The art-world cliché is to enjoy that journey ... that’s very true. ■