IAN Harrison’s upcoming exhibition My Journey will be unveiled on Thursday, shining a light on his memories of place and time, and political protests.
“I have always used oils as I can just take my time with it,” Mr Harrison said.
“Painting should not be rushed, it’s something that should be done slowly.”
Mr Harrison’s painting method is primavera, a technique created during the Italian renaissance by Sandro Boticelli which involves the colours being mixed on the canvas rather than the pallet.
“You have to always come back to it so as to let the paint dry,” Mr Harrison said.
“It’s not about selling paintings or the completion, for me the enjoyment comes from the doing.”
Mr Harrison’s vibrant works are made even more impressive given the fact he is colourblind.
“Win (Mr Harrison’s wife) will often assist me when I have to use greens,” he said.
The Millicent artist’s works include a scene of bird life at Lake McIntyre, Hall’s Falls in Tasmania and Glen Helen Gorge in the Northern Territory, which has been rendered in sharp oranges and blues with a pallet knife.
A talented portrait artist – coming fourth in a portrait painting award by the Victorian Art Society in 1996 – Mr Harrison has painted Beachport police officer Lanky Kana for the upcoming exhibition.
That piece will not be for sale as it was commissioned by Wattle Range Council.
Mr Harrison estimates “around 90pc” of his artworks now belong to other people and some will be sold at the exhibition, but there are others he cannot bear to part with.
One of these is a self-portrait of Mr Harrison with a horse beside the Darling River.
An accident meant Mr Harrison had to retire his days working with horses as a former stockman working near Lucindale.
Instead, he turned to art.
After completing TAFE study, Mr Harrison enrolled at Deakin University.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Visual Art in 1995 with five high distinctions, two years later Mr Harrison won the Cavalier Prize for Painting.
One of Mr Harrison’s paintings that earned a high distinction was a small pygmy possum surrounded by splashes of blood red and black bars.
“That was to protest what was – and still is – happening in the Otway Basin,” Mr Harrison said.
“They’re destroying the pygmy possum’s habitat just to make planks of wood.”
Mr Harrison keeps an eye on the news and when there’s something which strikes a chord, he picks up a paint brush.
“I think to myself, what can I say?
“Painting means that I can say things in a way that makes people take notice – there is only so much that words can do.”
My Journey opens Thursday at the Millicent Gallery from 2pm.
