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<\/p>\nOne of Richard Weatherly\u2019s standout childhood memories is of being held aloft by his grandmother as a shark swam dangerously close in the shallows of the estuary at Barwon Heads.<\/p>\n
The creature flashed past in pursuit of a fish and a young Richard was delighted by his bird\u2019s eye view of nature in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very interesting \u2013 it was real Jaws stuff,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone yelled \u2018shark, shark\u2019 and Rosemary grabbed me by the arms and held me up and I saw the thing go whipping past.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister was furious because she saw the fish it was chasing and I saw the shark.\u201d<\/p>\n
That extraordinary experience in nature was a sign of things to come for Richard who went on to become an accomplished environmental artist, spending more than 50 years observing birds in their natural habitats around the globe.<\/p>\n
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His lifetime of adventures and insights \u2013 along with his stunning paintings and sketches \u2013 have been collated in the soon-to-be released book titled A Brush with Birds: Paintings and stories from the wild.<\/p>\n
Images in the superb hardcover book have been drawn from a body of work dating back to the 1960s and document his time spent in Europe, Africa, America, Antarctica, Papua New Guinea and many parts of Australia.<\/p>\n
Some of that work will also feature in an upcoming exhibition to be held at The Hive in Ocean Grove, which opens on Saturday and runs until December 13.<\/p>\n
There will also be a book signing at the gallery on November 21.<\/p>\n
The Wallington resident, who studied history at Cambridge and has worked alongside artists such as Charles McCubbin, admits he was initially reluctant to write the book.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sitting here in the studio and the phone rang and a woman\u2019s voice said \u2018I\u2019m a senior editor at a publishing company, would you be interested in writing a book about birds?\u2019,\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m inherently pretty honest so I said \u2018no\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard was eventually persuaded to take on the project and, in typically modest fashion, says he is satisfied with the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a meandering through my life picking up on things that actually teach us lessons \u2013 or taught me lessons anyway,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about my experience in learning to paint birds and where I\u2019ve done that and the interesting people I\u2019ve encountered.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd secondly, it looks at the scientific side and what learning about the science has led me to in terms of understanding conservation and habitat management.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard, who grew up in the Western District, received an OAM in 2015 for his lifetime contribution to the visual arts, the environment and conservation.<\/p>\n
He was the foundation president of the Society of Wildlife Artists of Australasia and was made an Honorary Associate in ornithology at the National Museum of Victoria.<\/p>\n
His creative career has run in parallel with that of being a fourth-generation sheep farmer on the family property, Connewarran Station, located just outside Mortlake.<\/p>\n Richard and his wife Jenny were married in 1976 and spent more than 35 years as custodians of the property, undertaking an award-winning regeneration project which included seed planting more than 1.5million trees.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite a creative process, farming, because we were in many ways very lucky because we started with a place that was a blank canvas in need of development,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like painting \u2013 there\u2019s always things that go wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way to look at something that goes wrong is \u2018how can I make something out of that so it is something that went right?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard says his appreciation for the natural environment was nurtured from a young age thanks to a father who encouraged him to be curious about the world around him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d be going around the paddocks with your father and he would say \u2018oh, I wonder what all those birds are feeding on, let\u2019s go up and see\u2019,\u201d Richard remembers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are on the land you tend to see a bird and want to know what it is.<\/p>\n \u201cMy grandfather kept a bird list and he had 111 species, my father had 148 species and we had 207 species by the time we left.<\/p>\n \u201cAnything more than 200 is a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard still makes regular trips to Connewarran which is now run by his son, Hamish, who is continuing the family tradition as leaders in the merino wool industry.<\/p>\n Richard and Jenny\u2019s daughter, Skye, also works in the family business.<\/p>\n As he takes a moment to leaf through the pages of his book while sitting in his light-filled studio, the artist points out a few of the feathered subjects who are among his favourites including the kingfisher, falcon and the wren.<\/p>\n Richard might have taken some convincing initially but he concedes A Brush with Birds presented him with the chance to reflect on a wonderful career that has taken him from the ice cliffs of Antarctica to the arid beauty of the Simpson Dessert.<\/p>\n It was also an opportunity to acknowledge the many people from different fields of endeavour who were\u00a0part of the journey, including his wife Jenny who sits at the top of the tree as his greatest support.<\/p>\n \u201cArt is a very selfish pursuit and Jenny has been absolutely fantastic,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people are natural nurturers and carers and Jenny is one of those.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019d have been nowhere if I hadn\u2019t had her behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard Weatherly\u2019s A Brush with Birds exhibition starts on Saturday and runs until December 13. Find out more by visiting thehiveoceangrove.com.au.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of Richard Weatherly\u2019s standout childhood memories is of being held aloft by his grandmother as a shark swam dangerously close in the shallows of the estuary at Barwon Heads. The creature flashed past in pursuit of a fish and a young Richard was delighted by his bird\u2019s eye view of nature in action. \u201cIt […]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/IMG_8377_54693.jpg\")
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