"I am a painter of nature, of natures moods, of sunlight and the changing temper of the sea."

A quote by John Russell consumed the top right corner of the room, presenting itself in glossy, black letters. Beneath the text a few Russell paintings sprawled across the wall in harmony with a set of paintings by E. Phillips Fox, a Naturalist painter. 

Bathing Hour by E. Phillips Fox

I sat on a bench in the middle of the room drifting back and fourth between enjoying the Queensland Art Gallery and dreading my walk back to the Institute of Technology campus in the lingering humidity. I was still cooling off from the trek to the museum but it didn't take away from my experience, that would have been impossible to do. I swiveled on the bench to face the opposite direction only to discover wonderful figure drawings by Rupert Bunny aligned across the wall; Both E. Philips Fox and Rupert Bunny were native to Australia, and both studied at National Gallery School in Melbourne, Victoria. As i wandered into the next room i was pleasantly surprised by a slew of paintings of Edwardian women spread across Parlor seating. The first thing that came to mind was "draw me like one of your french girls" and i giggled to myself. The paintings were beautiful, but i moved into the next collection.

Kite Flying by Ian Fairweather

The rest of my discoveries were wonderful. I took a liking to the Scottish-born painter Ian Fairweather and the Australian painter/printmaker Sidney Nolan. So much more caught my eye but names and titles always seem to slip through the cracks- but what i do remember is another piece by Ian Fairweather titled "War and Peace" and a portrait by Henri Toulouse-Loutres (that remains un-named in my mind) but i was unable to find photos of these pieces but i thought they were worth mentioning.

Mrs. Fraser and Convict by Sydney Nolan