Blue Mountains artist Warwick Fuller (r) with Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall during their 2012 tour to Australia. Photo: David Foote, AUSPIC
By Ellen Hill for Lost Bear Gallery
Respected Blue Mountains artist Warwick Fuller will have his second brush with royalty when he tours with Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall this week.
The plein air painter will travel to Adelaide, ahead of the Royal couple who will arrive there tomorrow (Tuesday, November 10) and visit the small town of Tanunda in the Barossa Valley to experience a “taste of regional life’’.
The tour will then travel to Canberra on Wednesday (November 11) before heading to Sydney, where Fuller will part with The Prince and Duchess who will continue on to Albany and Perth.
A watercolourist himself, The Prince chooses an artist to join him on tours as a way of supporting the arts and in appreciation of the unique perspective that an artist can provide.
The Prince’s 15th trip to Australia will be Fuller’s second as the official tour artist for the Royal couple. His first invitation was in November 2012.
“He was very easy to talk to on the first tour,’’ Fuller said.
“We got on well and we had a few laughs and jokes, all in three or four-minute meetings.’’
Fuller has recently wrapped up his latest solo exhibition at Lost Bear Gallery at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.
“Although I don’t like pre-empting what I might paint, I do hope to capture something special at the War Memorial on the eleventh.’’
After the tour, Fuller will gift The Prince a painting from the trip and His Royal Highness will also have first option to the others.
Any paintings acquired by the Prince will become part of the Royal Collection.
A Fellow of the Royal Arts Society, Warwick Fuller has painted the majestic Australian landscape for more than 35 years, during which time he has built a solid reputation through more than 60 solo exhibitions and numerous awards and accolades.
His techniques are unmistakable in portraying the vibrancy and energy of nature, of tapping into his own subconsciousness and releasing his life experience onto canvass with the confidence of a mature artist who has earned his success.
Fuller’s works show a tireless chase of the elusive light on landscape such as the thrill of gazing at the last rays of sunlight in the tree tops.
“I can paint something of what it looks like but I am trying to capture the way I feel,” Fuller said.
“I want my pictures to sing the songs I sang when I painted them. My hope is that if I can paint with the joy of that moment, something of my emotional responses to the moment will shine through.’’
Lost Bear Gallery owner Geoff White, who has represented Fuller since the 1990s “Warwick Fuller’s work is for the discerning viewer who appreciates the finest art.’’
Warwick Fuller’s work can be viewed at Lost Bear Gallery, 98 Lurline St, Katoomba, from 10am to 5pm daily. Details: (02) 4782 1220 or katoombafineart.com.au.
Lost Bear Gallery is a commercial client of Deep Hill Media and Headline Publicity