The Much Traveled Painting

Some 22 years ago I made the fateful decision to leave my hometown of Melbourne and make for “the bush.”  I decided to move to the outskirts of an old goldmining town called Dunolly, about 170 kms north-west of Melbourne.  I had a mortgage to service and had run out of work - so the move out of the city seemed the only option.  Apparently, I had become what was commonly referred to as an economic refugee. 

With two qualifications under my belt (including a degree in fine art), I decided I would be damned if I went back to school and besides, I was in my late 40’s by that stage.  So I figured that my employment prospects were limited so say the least.  My Centrelink case manager warned me that the then Howard Government’s proposed changes to job seeking represented bad news for people like me, so that settled it - off I went.

My home at Dunolly, central goldfields area in Victoria

All this, and the fact that I was being continually bitten by the art bug led me to focus entirely on my art practice.  I was ignoring art history of course, which told me that most artists move from the bush to the big city in order to “make it”, not the reverse.  You’ll notice that large shed on the far right of the image above - instant studio I thought, with concrete floor and power.  Never mind the fact that temperature inside climbed into the high 40’s in summer and dipped to near freezing in winter. 

Within about two months of the move, I had my first panic attack.  At the time I didn’t understand what was going on until I had these attacks diagnosed.  Apparently, it was my internal organs asking “what the hell have you done?”  But I decided to plough on, making friends along the way and getting involved in several exhibitions.  The panic attacks didn’t subside however, and the message I was getting was clear - get back to civilization.   

“View From The North Tower”, oil on canvas on board, 60 cm x 75 cm

By a very circuitous route (Kyneton, Coronet Bay, Drouin) I have made my way back to my natural habitat - Melbourne.  Several of my paintings have made that long and lonely journey with me, including the one pictured above which was painted in 2007.  The scene is the former psychiatric hospital ‘Willsmere’ in Kew, and I’m delighted that it is now hanging at the Town Hall Gallery in Hawthorn as part of the “Impressions Of Place” exhibition, staged by MAVA (Melbourne And Victorian Artists).  Being involved with MAVA has helped rekindle my art practice. 

If the setting in this painting looks a tad lonely, that would not be surprising.  2007, the year of its production, was a very difficult year.