A LITTLE Hartley landscape painter has been paid the highest compliment by being chosen as the official tour artist on the recent visit to Australia by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall.
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An unexpected email from Clarence House, the official residence of the Charles and Camilla in London, asked Warwick Fuller to join their tour and also let the artist know he had a king-in-waiting who liked his work.
Mr Fuller’s paintings had caught the eye of Prince Charles through the Panter and Hall Gallery in London.
The gallery has had seven individual exhibitions of the artist, including a successful show earlier this year.
He was not expected to paint the royals themselves, but was given free rein to paint at the locations during the visit.
Mr Fuller said he was in a unique position that he wasn’t caught up with the entourage and could go and paint the things which appealed to him.
But following the royal couple’s itinerary did not leave the artist with a lot of options because of the speed and military precision of the trip, he said.
Even on the whirlwind royal visit Prince Charles did manage to talk to the artist a couple of times.
Both times were when they were flying between stops and Charles approached Mr Fuller for a quick chat.
At other times Prince Charles would wander by and ask a brief question on how the painting was going.
A variety of locations were not a problem to the artist as he had the chance to work at Yarralumla on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, down south in the rural hinterland of Hobart and in his own special spot at Flemington Race Track during the Melbourne Cup.
The bad weather when Prince Charles visited Bondi Beach also affected Mr Fuller.
The royal couple had been at Icebergs in Bondi and were moving onto their next engagement down at the beach.
This allowed the artist a decent window to paint in one spot.
That was before heavy rain interrupted and ruined the painting he had been working on.
Even with finding a long enough pause on the tour to paint and then having to deal with inclement weather, Mr Fuller completed nine or 10 paintings and a few sketches.
Not all of the works done by the artist will be presented to Prince Charles.
Mr Fuller said he will spend some time in the studio considering what he has done before making arrangements for the Prince to view the selected ones.
“It has been a policy of Prince Charles to take an artist on tour as he is a water colourist himself and understands the difference between the cold hard facts of a photograph and an interpretation through the eyes of an artist,” Mr Fuller said.
“The paintings will provide a meaningful way to look back on his tour.”
If Prince Charles decides to purchase one it will be put in the Royal Collection when Charles becomes King.