WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.379 --> 00:00:03.546 (gentle upbeat music) 2 00:00:07.010 --> 00:00:10.030 line:15% I often feel I didn't get a choice about being an artist 3 00:00:10.030 --> 00:00:12.940 line:15% because my mother was a self-taught artist, 4 00:00:12.940 --> 00:00:16.330 and would've gone to the London School of Art 5 00:00:16.330 --> 00:00:19.000 but the Second World War broke out. 6 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.490 She always encouraged me and my siblings 7 00:00:22.490 --> 00:00:25.770 to engage ourselves in artistic activities. 8 00:00:25.770 --> 00:00:29.200 And every school holiday she had a new project 9 00:00:29.200 --> 00:00:32.780 for us to busy ourselves with. 10 00:00:32.780 --> 00:00:34.610 In the end I got to live her dream, I guess, 11 00:00:34.610 --> 00:00:38.030 I went to art school and here I am. 12 00:00:39.800 --> 00:00:43.470 I went to the National Art School in the 1970s, 13 00:00:43.470 --> 00:00:45.680 and I was 14 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:48.750 initially interested in painting. 15 00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:51.750 But when I was there, I started to become very interested 16 00:00:51.750 --> 00:00:55.670 in photography and screen printing. 17 00:00:55.670 --> 00:00:58.820 I started to paint 18 00:00:58.820 --> 00:01:01.600 and adapted a way 19 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:04.750 of painting with stencils 20 00:01:04.750 --> 00:01:08.970 because I had really enjoyed that textural, 21 00:01:08.970 --> 00:01:11.030 heavy textural effect I could get 22 00:01:11.030 --> 00:01:13.893 with the photo stencils and screen printing. 23 00:01:16.870 --> 00:01:21.280 I met Tim Winton years ago, in the pages of his novels, 24 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:25.460 and I always thought that he would be a great character 25 00:01:25.460 --> 00:01:28.370 and a great face to paint. 26 00:01:28.370 --> 00:01:31.070 But I also knew that he was very reclusive 27 00:01:31.070 --> 00:01:34.973 and shunned any sort of attention. 28 00:01:36.470 --> 00:01:39.200 But then the Darling Prize was announced and I thought, 29 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:43.740 oh, well, I'll ask if he'll be my subject. 30 00:01:43.740 --> 00:01:48.100 And the only way to contact Tim is through his agent. 31 00:01:48.100 --> 00:01:51.007 So I asked her and she said, 32 00:01:51.007 --> 00:01:54.850 "Look, he gets asked to be a portrait subject 33 00:01:54.850 --> 00:01:57.420 at least six times a year. 34 00:01:57.420 --> 00:02:02.007 He always says, 'no', so expect a polite refusal." 35 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:05.763 I didn't get my refusal. 36 00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:10.720 And I kept sort of nagging and cajoling through his agent. 37 00:02:10.720 --> 00:02:12.530 And she kept saying, "You know, I'll ask him again, 38 00:02:12.530 --> 00:02:14.520 but I haven't heard anything yet." 39 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:16.100 Time was running out. 40 00:02:16.100 --> 00:02:18.280 It was getting closer and closer to when I'd need 41 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:21.163 to start the painting to get it in in time. 42 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:26.610 And I won the Portia Geach Prize 43 00:02:26.610 --> 00:02:28.310 for a self-portrait. 44 00:02:28.310 --> 00:02:30.230 And I think Tim must've liked this, 45 00:02:30.230 --> 00:02:33.993 because I got a phone call from his agent saying, 46 00:02:35.457 --> 00:02:38.730 "If you can be at this particular remote headland 47 00:02:38.730 --> 00:02:42.530 on the coast of Western Australia next Tuesday afternoon, 48 00:02:42.530 --> 00:02:43.800 Tim will give you one hour 49 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:47.220 of his time to take some photographs." 50 00:02:47.220 --> 00:02:49.080 And she said, "And be prepared, 51 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:51.337 he hates having his photo taken." 52 00:02:52.410 --> 00:02:54.390 So I said, "Of course I'll be there." 53 00:02:54.390 --> 00:02:59.300 So from Sydney, it was more than 24 hours travel, 54 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:02.444 including two plane flights, 55 00:03:02.444 --> 00:03:05.560 an overnight stay in what appeared to be 56 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:08.750 a bikey, drug-dealing hotel, 57 00:03:08.750 --> 00:03:12.100 and then hiring a four wheel drive car 58 00:03:12.100 --> 00:03:16.770 and heading up the coast along a dusty track, 59 00:03:16.770 --> 00:03:21.770 until at this lighthouse on a beautiful headland, 60 00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:23.723 we finally met up with Tim. 61 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:30.303 And I asked him if I could use some of his words, 62 00:03:32.030 --> 00:03:37.030 and he gave me permission to use an extract from, 63 00:03:37.297 --> 00:03:40.760 "The Wait and the Flow" from an essay 64 00:03:40.760 --> 00:03:43.060 in his autobiographical collection, 65 00:03:43.060 --> 00:03:45.657 called, "The Boy Behind the Curtain." 66 00:03:46.630 --> 00:03:47.463 And I have to say, 67 00:03:47.463 --> 00:03:52.180 he was a very engaging and warm personality. 68 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:57.050 And I truly believe that his sort of reluctance 69 00:03:57.050 --> 00:04:01.723 to be a subject wasn't aloofness or arrogance in any way, 70 00:04:02.600 --> 00:04:07.600 it was more that he needs a sort of a quiet distant place 71 00:04:08.260 --> 00:04:11.270 from where he can observe mankind, 72 00:04:11.270 --> 00:04:14.173 rather than being the man observed. 73 00:04:17.840 --> 00:04:22.410 And by the end, Tim was starting to seem a bit more relaxed, 74 00:04:22.410 --> 00:04:25.613 though he did still knot his fingers together. 75 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:30.050 And at the end, as we were saying goodbye, 76 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:33.640 I sort of quipped, "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" 77 00:04:33.640 --> 00:04:36.820 And he said, "Well, no worse than going to the dentist." 78 00:04:36.820 --> 00:04:38.700 And I thought, wow, that bad? 79 00:04:38.700 --> 00:04:42.180 But anyway, it worked out well. 80 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:45.347 (gentle upbeat music)