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 a garage, 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 auction houses as well as a major restoration of the stations of the cross for the Church of the Apostles in Launceston Tasmania in 2006.
