MV was a fourth generation family business then producing souvenirs for the Australian market. They printed souvenir designs on anything and everything from postcards to tea towels and were located in Gympie, Qld. Ian Murray commissioned one "over-the-top" design I did for a Smoker's Certificate (pictured, less their text) (Yes, it was inspired by my own experience as a heavy smoker unable at that time to quit the addiction). I left Brisbane shortly after, without receiving any more commissions from him.
When I moved to Bauple, a half-hour drive north of Gympie, I wrote to Ian Murray and told him I was in the area. There was no response in the next 3 months, so I crossed Murrays off my list of potential job sources.
When the outlook for consistent artwork grew grim and sales of the Wildlife Cards lost their initial momentum, despair at the persistent Bankcard debt and the loneliness at night took hold. What does a man do then but turn to the Heavens for help?!
Funny thing, I had always accepted my Mum's assertion that Christianity was the way to go but had never investigated it for myself past a talk with my wife's local Catholic priest. He advised me, wisely, to read the book of John in the bible but for some reason no pennies clicked when I did that. One night in my smoke-filled Bauple caravan, I found myself saying aloud, "If there is a God out there, you had better take over because I can't handle this any more." I added, "and if this bible is your book, why can't I understand it?" It was a low point but I slept eventually.The following day, the world was in the same place and I just got on with things. Daytime was OK.
Only a couple of days later, I paid a customary visit to my writer/collaborator, Bob Morrow, and picked up his Courier Mail. I had not read a newspaper in all those months because I had found in Brisbane that looking through employment ads was quite depressing. So what did I do with the newspaper but turn to the job ads?! There I found an ad placed by Murray Views seeking, this time, to employ an artist full-time!! I guess the Murray lads had decided to cast their net wider before considering responding to my letter.
Yes, I did get the job in May, 1981 and that solved quite a few problems: I cleared my Bankcard debt, dispensed with the kind support from the Government man and began a term of eight (8) years doing work I love with great fellowship of other workmates and others. But wait, there's more! I had joined a team of two (2) artists and two (2) silk screen printers in the Art dept.. One of those artists was named, Joy Hedges. Yes, she was the girl in my Art class at BSHS who had invited me and a few other boys to her 16th birthday party 30 years earlier! Ashamedly, none of us boys responded! I had been reminded by my conscience of my bad manners several times over the intervening years and now was finally able to apologise to Joy! What an amazing catch-up that was! Joy by that time was doing stunning watercolours and pastels as well as her souvenir designs.
Bob Morrow was content to continue his day work as a Sub Editor with the Maryborough Chronicle and we put Slattery Creek to bed. I joined the Gympie Art Society at Joy's invitation. More great company and art adventures in a beaut town of smiling people! That same year, I sold my Bauple property at a good price, rented in Gympie and traded my motorbike for a small car.
My first assignment as a Murray Views artist was to illustrate most of a Childrens' Activity Book for the Perth region of Western Australia. The cover was coloured with poster paints and the interior was all black and white.In those days before computer graphics, art was done by hand, pen and/or brush, referencing (and sometimes tracing) postcards and other photographs. Often, it was practicable to print, cut-out and paste existing art from the huge library created by Joy for that purpose but there was little of that in this first inauguration project. My specialty for B&W art had by then become line work with a brush, especially suited to this project because of its speed. I relished the opportunity to do the colour work, too! The flat, unblended colours of poster paint suited me just fine!
We all used Letraset for lettering, transferring letters and numbers by hand-pressing from transfer sheets.
Stay tuned for the next few episodes, where I explain how I came to use more of my comic art in
Gympie and how God and Joy teamed up on me. LOL
