Page 31 - Australian_How_To_Paint

05:0./;

to the Queensland School Moderators Board.
Mr Kirwan came back with a letter stating
that Kevin’s work was of exceptionally high
standard and was possibly the best in the State.
Kevin matriculated from Aquinas College in
1974, but for a year before he left school his
father would take him and his artwork to Mr
Neil Cooper at the Gold Coast Bulletin every
Wednesday with the hope that one day he might
be offered a job with the newspaper as an artist.
Kevin got the job a year after leaving school
and loved his new career with the Bulletin,
albeit a short one. Kevin was retrenched
and left shattered for a short time; his only The Bush
solace was his canvas under his parent’s
house. The late 1970s were turbulent times in
relation to careers, so after finally accepting
advice from his father, Kevin decided to join
the RAAF, a decision that would keep him
gainfully employed for the next 20 years.
During his time in the RAAF, Kevin, with his
wife of 30 years Jeanette, and his twins - son
Joshua (a graphic designer), and daughter Colby
(a fine artist), saw a multitude of places, including
Melbourne, Townsville, Malaysia, and Canberra
and during this time they vacationed in Thailand,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Hawaii, USA and Mexico.
This gave Kevin an opportunity to broaden his
artistic horizons, as he never stopped drawing and
painting and teaching himself along the way.
Kevin retired from the RAAF in 1997 and
moved to Hervey Bay where he and Jeanette
started a Graphic Design Company which
became very successful until in 2004 when,
for reasons out of his control, the company Moss Gardens Carnarvon Gorge Q
folded. This was the catalyst Kevin needed
to return to his passion for fine art, so he
sold up everything including the kitchen sink
and set off with his wife on an unplanned
adventure around Australia. During this time,
Kevin painted in watercolours as they were
easy to travel with. He saw many diverse,
remote places and photographed thousands
of unique scenes which he kept on computer
to be later converted into artworks.
Kevin taught himself to look at the world
differently, seeing it in tonal variations, almost
in greyscale. He breaks down large scenes to
simple detailed ones in his mind’s eye and has
practised this for the past 10 or so years, to the
extent that he can now visualise a painting without
procrastinating about the subject. He attributes Karajini
this ability to his time travelling, just sitting and
Australian How to Paint 31