Sprad Artworks - philip spradbery : xcs consulting

Philip Spradbery
GPO Box 2566 Canberra ACT 2601 · Phone +61 2 6282 5325
Web: www.xcsconsulting.com.au · Email: sprad@netspeed.com.au
SpradArt
AN APPARENT talent for drawing
and painting was recognized by my art
teacher in the early years at secondary
school (Mayfield College, Sussex, UK)
and he encouraged me to draw and
paint.
The school submitted works by us
students to the Royal Drawing Society
(also known as “The Children’s Royal
Academy”) which awarded some of
my works with the Silver Medal and
Certificates of Merit while one was
retained by the RDS for their annual
tour of several British galleries.
While Mayfield College may have
wanted me to pursue a career in art,
my vocation was in the biological
sciences which resulted in me leaving
Mayfield and going to the local
grammar school in Wrexham, North
Wales, to study Botany, Zoology and
Chemistry. [Top left] Kitchen at ‘Pont-y-ffrwd’ farm,
North Wales, 28x20cm, 1953
[Left] ‘My Dog Shep’ – Oils, 36x32cm, 1956
[Above] Profile portrait of Russell Gilderson,
Queen Mary College newspaper, “The Cub”
1957 [Above middle top] Anne Pope, QMC
Newspaper, “The Cub”
[Above middle] Warden of the Woodford
Hall of Residence at QMC
[Above right] Professor Haines, Head of
Department of Botany at QMC 1957
[Right] Student John Anstey 1959
[Far right] Student portrait caricature
[Left] Logo design/bannerhead of “The Cub”
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Philip Spradbery
GPO Box 2566 Canberra ACT 2601 · Phone +61 2 6282 5325
Web: www.xcsconsulting.com.au · Email: sprad@netspeed.com.au
At Queen Mary College, University of London (1956-59) a facility in
drawing was certainly a help with
degree level biological sciences but
was also put to good use in the College
newspaper “The Cub” and London
University newspaper “Sennet” (now
“London Student”).
A line drawing I did of a roaring
leopard won the competition for a new
logo for the college newspaper (the
College mascot was a full-size leopard
carved from wood). Cartoons were
produced regularly as were caricature
portraits of staff and students.
An oil painting landscape of the
Val de’Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees
resulting from a scientific expedition made by the College in the late
1950s, used to hang in the QMC main
building. It was at this time that I used to
visit Walter E. Spradbery the famous
pacifist and landscape, lino-cut and
London Transport poster artist.
He lived at “The Wilderness” in
Epping Forest not far from our QMC
Hall of Residence in Woodford. I
sketched his portrait one afternoon.
His biography compiled by his son,
John Spradbery, has just been published (“My Dear Jim: A Biography of
[Top left] Cousin Walter E. Spradbery
the artist at “The Wilderness” 1959
[Middle left] ‘Rothamsted Manor
House’ 1960
[Left] ‘Hives at Rothamsted’ – Oils,
38x36cm, 1961
[Above top] ‘Fallen Tree’, Water-colour
field sketch 1961
[Above] ‘Fallen Tree’ – Oils, 40x32cm,
1961
[Above] ‘Femme Vert’ – Oils, 56x120cm, 1961
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Philip Spradbery
GPO Box 2566 Canberra ACT 2601 · Phone +61 2 6282 5325
Web: www.xcsconsulting.com.au · Email: sprad@netspeed.com.au
Walter E. Spradbery – An Artist in War
and Peace” ISBN 97 809 5659 3504).
When my student grant ran out
as it did before every term ended, I
would become an orderly at Whipps
Cross Hospital in Leytonstone but
also helped make ends meet by selling
my oil paintings through the “Sunday
Times” – my chocolate box era. As a postgrad student at Rothamsted (1960-63), I taught biology at
Luton Technical College one afternoon a week to help the finances
but after my lectures, I’d put on the
art student’s garb and spend happy
hours learning lithography and the
like, while in Hobart I did the etching
course at the Tasmanian School of Art
in 1971-72.
In Port Moresby, Papua New
Guinea, while working for CSIRO
(1973-85), I spent a little time painting
backdrops and other artworks for
local productions at the Waigani Arts
Theatre.
From 1985 in Canberra, with its
excellent Art School at the Australian
National University, various courses in
figure drawing, folio preparation and
sculpture were indulged. Paintings were produced sporadically for the rest of my life, often
coinciding with friends’ weddings or
[Top left] ‘Mayfield College’ – Oils, 60x40cm, 1961
[Middle left] ‘Platypus’ – Oils, 34x28cm, 1961
[Above middle] ‘Winterscape with fallen tree’ –
Oils, 42x38cm, 1962
[Far left] ‘Mollusca’ – Oils, 35x30cm, 1961
[Left] ‘Manor Woods’ – Oils, 30x40cm, 1962
[Above] Life class, Luton Tech, Old Woman, 1962
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Philip Spradbery
GPO Box 2566 Canberra ACT 2601 · Phone +61 2 6282 5325
Web: www.xcsconsulting.com.au · Email: sprad@netspeed.com.au
farewells. When living in Maidenhead,
Berkshire (1965-71), I also painted a
few murals on walls by commission –
mainly for children’s nurseries.
Drawings for scientific papers and
the WASP book made sure I kept my
eyes and hand in practice. I already
have a room at my home which is the
embryonic studio – if and when I retire
from science.
I have enjoyed being a very amateur
artist but if I have a second coming,
I’ll give the life of an artist a lot more
prominence.
The following pages display more
of my art spread over many years of
my life. Your comments will be most
welcome… hope you enjoy. n
[Top] Party invitation
[Above] Rothamsted Party invitation
[Right] ‘Dead Nestling’ – Oils, 85x64cm, 1963
[Right 1] Line drawing of Stenogaster wasp
from scientific publication, 1989
[Right 2] Line drawing of Potter wasp from
WASP book, 1973
[Right 3] Line drawing of Potter wasp from
WASP book, 1973
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Philip Spradbery
GPO Box 2566 Canberra ACT 2601 · Phone +61 2 6282 5325
Web: www.xcsconsulting.com.au · Email: sprad@netspeed.com.au
[Above] Constitution Dock after 1974
Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
[Top left] Line drawing of Potter
wasp nesting sequence from WASP
book, 1973
[Far left] Line drawing, techniques
for collection & preservation of
wasps, WASP book, 1973
[Above] ‘Half Moon’, Mongarlowe,
NSW 1994
[Left] Nude – Pastels, 40x50cm,
1994
[Right] Truck at Half Moon, 1994
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Philip Spradbery
[Above] Electric Woman, sculpture, 1993
GPO Box 2566 Canberra ACT 2601 · Phone +61 2 6282 5325
Web: www.xcsconsulting.com.au · Email: sprad@netspeed.com.au
[Above] Figure study in
pen and inks, ANU Art
School, 1992
[Top right] Figure study
in charcoal, ANU Art
School, 1992
[Left] Figure study in
pencil and charcoal, ANU
Art School, 1992
[Above] Figure study in charcoal, ANU Art School, 1992
[Right] Figure study
in charcoal, ANU Art
School, 1992
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Philip Spradbery
GPO Box 2566 Canberra ACT 2601 · Phone +61 2 6282 5325
Web: www.xcsconsulting.com.au · Email: sprad@netspeed.com.au
[Above left 1] “Study of Tasmanian Native-hen on Maria Island, Tasmania”, 1992, water color, 28 x 25cm
[Above left 2] “Chez Anderson, Burra, NSW”, 1991, water color, 27x37cm
[Others] From a sketch book, Charlotte’s Pass ANU course, Snowy Mtns, April 1994
[Below]
“Abandoned
farmhouse,
Maria Island,
Tasmania”,
1992, 37x27cm
[Above] Study of a rubber glove, 1994
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Philip Spradbery
GPO Box 2566 Canberra ACT 2601 · Phone +61 2 6282 5325
Web: www.xcsconsulting.com.au · Email: sprad@netspeed.com.au
[Top left] From a sketch book,
Charlotte’s Pass ANU course,
Snowy Mtns, April 1994
[Above] Line drawing of Paper
wasp, 2010
[Left] From a sketch book,
Charlotte’s Pass ANU course,
Snowy Mtns, April 1994
[Right] Flame Robin, Watercolour study for Christmas card
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