It was my encounter with Streeton's work, in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra galleries, that first inspired me to have a go at painting. Curiously, though Streeton received classical academic training -- including the drawing from plaster casts and the human life work -- he always struggled with the figure and the portrait, to his frustration. I'm rather glad that he kept his eye on the landscape.
His is an engaging story, as to which I tried to do justice in a lengthy article I wrote for the Classical Realism Journal. Shortly after -- and because of -- its publication, I learned that one of my all-time favorite painters, Joe Paquet (
www.joepaquet.com/available.html ), is a huge Streeton fan. I can't spot a snail mail address on your site, but if you'll email one to me, I'd be very happy to see that you get a copy of the article, as I believe that I can predict from your paintings an affinity.
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[email protected] ]
Sorry to intrude on the thread with this -- but there is the portrait and academic-training connection, mentioned above.