I love painting a powerful story teller. I met captain Jim Paterson on the Lake Burley Griffen Cruise ship the ‘Cygnet’. I went on the tour to see what I might be able to paint in the landscape from the perspective of the Lake and soon realised this was the best tour I had been on in a long while and I just had to paint Jim.
At the end of the tour I asked Jim if he would be my subject for my emerging art practice and was thrilled when he agreed.
Jim is a fantastic historian and story teller who is well known for his tours on the Lake, both nationally and internationally. Jim has been running his well-researched ‘history of the city’ tours since 2003 and he really impressed me with fantastic memory, sharp wit and brilliant backstory to our national capital. I wanted to capture this and the sparkle behind his eyes. Jim also has great life story and generous spirit. Something I really value and also live by with those meet.
It is not often you meet someone so interesting of his calibre and wisdom. This work was created to celebrate Jim’ passion for our National Capital and his ability to Tell The Story.