09/23/11

THE BEGINNING:

As a painter and decorator in the early 1980s, I was working on a house at Kings Meadows in Tasmania. In the garage of the house, on an old cupboard, I found an old plaster kookaburra figure a bit worse for wear. I was immediately attracted to this statue and asked the lady of the house if she would be interested in selling it. To my surprise she told me that I could have him, so the next day I gave her a dozen eggs as payment and proudly took my new-found statue home.

I'd never restored anything of this nature before, however, over the next few weeks I filled, scraped, rubbed and painted until the beautiful kooka was restored to his former glory. No longer would he sit on an old cupboard in agarage, from now on he would be given pride of place on my glass cabinet.

In the years since then I have sold many and varied items, but I would never sell Jack, as he is an ever present reminder of the beginning of my life as a restorer.

FROM PLASTER TO PORCELAIN

In restoring plaster I drew on the skills I learnt during my apprenticeship as a painter decorator in the 1960s, where I learnt everything from mixing paint, colour matching and glazing to signwriting and surface preparation.

As I fine tuned my skills on plaster restorations, I progressed into pottery and porcelain, often a long and patient undertaking, spending many hours on a just small break or crack.

I am not a patient person by nature and had to train myself not to go at everything like a bull at a gate, this took me many years to learn this vital component in the art of restoration.

In the early 90s I gained an associate diploma in art, which gave me a better understanding of the complexities of painting techniques. This enabled me to undertake more detailed restorations where intricate artwork on china had to be restored to original form.

I have undertaken restorations and commission work for antique dealers and major auction houses as well as a restoration of the stations of the cross for the Church of the Apostles in Launceston Tasmania in 2006.