Peter Matheson - from Alexandra

Peter Matheson

“The Quiet Walk”

(A Painting by Peter Matheson)

     One day, I was taking a quiet walk around the town, just looking around, getting to know it more. In a little lane called ‘Baker’s Lane’, across from the primary school and behind the main street, there are just a couple of shops – one of them deals in computers and the other is an art gallery. As I walked by the window of the art gallery, which was closed, a couple of paintings and a pencil sketch portrait caught my eye. I stopped to browse. The pencil sketch was detailed and seemed more real than a black and white picture. The two paintings had the trees and the bush as background. They seemed, obviously, paintings of our region and somehow captured the feeling of being local.

     It is subtle, yet sublime. For instance, even before I came to Australia, having seen a few Eucalyptus trees in India, I had a mental vision of how the landscape might look like with many of them, like giant broccoli. This mental picture was quite close to reality as I observed when I moved here. Now, I have started to observe and appreciate the subtle differences between the regions within Australia. These paintings were a reminder to me that I had reached a level of familiarity with Australia.

     One of the paintings hooked me in more deeply. It shows a couple, possibly in their late fifties, holding hands and taking a walk in the woods or even along their dirt driveway, surrounded by the characteristic tall, mountain ash trees found in this area. It seems like an evening perhaps, when the couple take a habitual walk, the comfort of their familiarity as a couple, their common appreciation of the bush, each other, and their life there seems to be obvious. These two are soul mates. Their life is good. They can set aside their worries for the moment. Otherwise they would not be walking like that. It must be a good life. Artists could paint such a walk in many different places, with so many different scenes and different couples, and they would all evoke the same feeling. The painting was titled “Quiet Walk”, it struck a deep chord in my own soul. I was quietly walking the streets, alone. I too wanted to go for a walk, like in the painting, with my soul mate. I could not. The person in my life, if asked to come for a walk with me would have likely asked me to “Take a hike!” Suddenly, the longing and the beauty of a simple walk through the woods, the magic of the moment captured, hit me. I could not wait to meet the artist.

     I wandered in another day when the gallery was open and met Peter Matheson, the artist who had painted that. Peter has this air of a debonair gentleman about him, an old-fashioned, friendly charm. I asked him about art supplies for my children, possibly art classes and mentioned the paintings I liked. I have rarely seen an artist who carries so many paintings and works of other artists, as well as his own, in his gallery for sale and not try to sell or push anything. He was kind, pleasant, let me appreciate all I want, without any pressure, and went back to a painting he was working on – a scene of the local area. He said I was welcome any time to come and browse around.

     Having come to know a bit more about Peter since then, I am not surprised. He is a true artist at heart, a person with a conscience, loath to participate in or do anything that takes advantage of people’s feelings for personal gain. Even if his own circumstances were difficult he would not compromise. He runs an art gallery and gives lessons, but does it his way. One of the early signs of this nature was when, in his younger days, he gave away a career in advertising that leveraged his ability to draw and paint.

     Peter came over to Australia from Glasgow, Scotland (he even remembers his postal address there) in about 1955 as a young lad of 11, on a ship through the Suez Canal. He is a self-taught artist who can put a photograph to shame in conveying the spirit of a place or scene. He won the third prize for his painting of a seagull in Glasgow when he was about 10. He knew from the feeling he got from the appreciation of his painting then, what he wanted to do most in life. But that is not all he did – he is also a good musician, played base-guitar, sang and ranks himself below his brother who chose to excel in music. Growing up near Melbourne in those days, Peter played Aussie-Rules footy, captaining his local team. He worked in many jobs – advertising, playing as part of bands, in a factory making belts and plastic moulding, hard labour as a linesman’s assistant in the telephone company. It is impressive - the ups and downs of life that he has gone through, the elegance with which he views them and carries himself. It is surprising that the vehicle he drives, now, is the first car he has ever owned in his life! He used taxis, push bikes, scooters and even drove others’ cars, before buying one of his own not long ago! Yes, he is an exception to the rule I observed in the driving life of Australian men.

     Peter listens patiently, to all my yakking about all the dreams and ideas I have, about what I want to do in life, in Alex and encourages me with a grasp of the core of what it is I really want to do. He is one of the persons that make me realise, I have found a home in Alex. I could live here, like him and others, doing what really nourishes my soul. I might find, down the years to come, life has a quiet walk for me too. I cannot simply move past that painting - every time I look at it or even think about it, I feel almost in it, but as someone watching the two walk by, they are not even aware of me. I am an intruder if I show myself and spoil the moment. They really need to be alone!

     There are many more of Peter’s paintings that will forever etch memories in the mind, by simply a scene, giving a flavour and character of this part of the country as it has been for a couple of hundred years or more. Paintings of cattlemen on their horses, herding the cows from grazing, people picnicking on the banks of the local rivers, misty mornings, sweeping views across meadows or paddocks to the nearby mountain ranges, views of Lake Eildon through the forests around it, waterfalls nearby, of such character and colour that you feel part of the scene.