It's been such a wonderful privilege to visit so many museums and galleries and castles and palaces and gardens and cemeteries and archeological sites from New York to Rome and much in between. In fact looking back through my diary I counted up 189 excursions in 12 months ... !!! ...
I have not blogged on all as some institutions did not allow photography and others did not make for an interesting pictorial story - but I hope that those of you who have followed my postings have enjoyed my adventure as much as I have ...
My only disappointment in treading all those miles was that I didn't find any Australian art in any of the cities I visited ... and as an Aussie I am immensely proud of my country's heritage; both ancient and indigenous going back many thousands of years and our more recent modern history less than 250 years old ...
So with a couple of days stop-over in Sydney on my way home to Queensland, I paid a quick visit to my favourite museum - the Art Gallery of New South Wales - to catch up with some old familiar friends ...
Established in 1871, the Art Gallery of NSW is the oldest in Oz and houses an extensive collection of modern and contemporary artworks from within our shores, as well as works from leading world artists - along-side artifacts from ancient civilizations including our own Aboriginal people.
My favourite time in the history of art is the second half of the 19th century through into the 20th century - so here are just a few of my Aussie friends ...
Malham Cove - Arhtur Streeton - 1911
Hauling Timber - Hans Heyson - 1911
On the Wallaby Track - Frederick McGubbin - 1896
Fire's on - Arthur Streeton - 1891
Dian Dreams - Violet Teague - 1909
Summer Time - Rupert Bunny - 1907
A Summer Morning - Rupert Bunny - 1908
Madonna - Bertram Mackennal - 1906
Pan - Sydney Long - 1898
By Tranquil Waters - Sydney Long - 1894
The Railway Station, Redfern - Arthur Streeton - 1893
Milson's Point, Sydney - Tom Roberts - 1888
Hippolytus - Benjamin Spence ( England ) - 1862
Hunter and Dog - John Gibson ( England ) - 1838
Beatrice Cenci - Harriet Hosmer ( America ) - 1857
The Dry Season - J Llewelyn Jones - 1889
Self Portrait - Frederick McCubbin - 1886
The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon
Edward John Poynter ( England ) - 1890
Self Portrait - Nicholas Chevalier - 1857
A Bush Idyll - George Lambert - 1896
Percy Spence - Tom Roberts - 1896
The Cockatoo - Margaret Fleming - 1895
The White Glove - George W Lambert - 1921
Thea Proctor - George W Lambert - 1916
Flowers - Percy Leason - 1922
Still Life - Roy de Maistre - 1922
Western Australian Gum Blossom
Margaret Preston - 1928
Fred Coventry - William Dobell - 1932
Swedish Athlete - George W Lambert - 1928
Down the Hills to Berry's Bay - Roland Wakelin - 1916
Implement Blue - Margaret Preston - 1927
The Lacquer Room - Grace Cossington Smith - 1936
Important People - George W Lambert - 1921
Margaret Olley - William Dobell - 1948
Margaret Olley - Ben Quilty - 2011
Ex voto - Donald Friend - 1952
Soooo - after traveling thousands of miles from one side of the planet to the other and back again, and filling my head with thousands of gigabytes of spectacular images, it's now time to hop on the flying kangaroo for my final leg home ...
... and once the jet-lag has worn off and the suitcases are unpacked for the last time, it'll be into the studio for me and hopefully all this amazing inspiration will kick my creative hands into work ...
... stay tuned ...
