At 83, Hal Pratt has a contemplative demeanour as he considers a colourful life journey that has culminated in exceptional watercolour artworks.
Growing up in Parkes in the central west NSW, Hal at age six wanted to become a landscape artist like his uncle, Douglas Pratt. His mother guided him to a safer career in architecture.
“I stayed with architecture for an entire career, however, I was eventually disillusioned with the business and the mounting regulations and paperwork that restricted the creative process.”
When computer drafting made his skills as a draughtsman redundant, Hal moved to Thirroul in the mid-1990s, easing away from architecture and into photography. He built his own studio, with a dark room, and studied dark-room techniques.
“Every year I worked towards a solo photographic exhibition including at Wollongong, Orange and Manly regional galleries. My focus was abstract painterly landscapes inspired by the surface transformation of boat hulls during their slipping in Wollongong Harbour.”
In 2003 the State Library of NSW commissioned Hal to photograph 350 public grain silo facilities across country NSW. He took seven years to complete the task and an image of each appears in the Library’s archives. (Visit nswsilos.com.au.)
Hal revived his interest in drawing and in 2008 attended the first of 10 Larapinta Creative Camps in Central Australia.
“These camps offered the opportunity to engage creatively in drawing and painting around the Macdonnell Ranges, east and west of Alice Springs. Artists such as Fred Williams and Albert Namatjira continued to inspire me.”
He has mainly painted en plein air and developed larger works in his Thirroul studio.
“I have accepted the challenge of watercolour work especially the inability to re-work the medium, although the real challenge lies in my interpretation of our unique landscape.
“I appreciate it when others choose my works to hang in their own homes and it gives me immense satisfaction.”
Hal began exhibiting watercolours in 2015 and has exhibited and sold his works locally and also at the New York and Hong Kong art fairs.
In the 2016 Calleen National Art Award, Hal’s painting Hidden Gorge NT was Highly Commended.
“Over the last three years I have exhibited in joint shows with another local artist, Ashley Frost, in the beautiful Clifton School of Arts. I have also been selected for many exhibitions and awards which has helped to widen my viewing audience.”
Hal is now working on a series of watercolours of sand dunes and still painting the iconic River Red Gums for which his uncle Douglas is renowned. The six-year-old has come full circle.