For decades Harris ‘Chip’ Redhead has been seeing to the health of Blayney Shire residents as one of its longest serving GP’s, but if fate had turned a different corner, Dr Redhead could well have become an architect.
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“I’ve always been interested in drawing, always, and before television of course I used to have a box of watercolours and I would copy the paintings on the wall,” he said. “I still have the original box of watercolour paint.”
That was in 1938 as an artistic 10 year old but it wasn’t until just after the Second World War had ended that Dr Redhead had his first lesson.
“As a bonus for finishing school, my mother booked me into the East Sydney Technical College for art courses during the night,” he said, “We covered everything from still-life, portraits, architecture and landscapes but I always preferred pen and ink over anything else.”
At wars end, Dr Redhead was still at school and before sitting for his Leaving Certificate he had to choose what courses he was interested in pursuing afterwards.
“In no order I applied for medicine, dentistry and of course, architecture,” he said, “As it turned out after the leaving I was accepted into a scholarship for medicine and architecture didn’t even get a look in.”
One look at his drawings though and it’s clear that his love for architecture and building construction has stayed with him over the years, and he even played an important part in designing his own home high on the hills south of Blayney.
“When it comes to subjects to draw it’s always old buildings and things like that that draw my interest,” he said. “I always visit the buildings and try to get a feel for them rather than just use photos.”
There would barely be a building in the shire that Dr Redhead hasn’t studied and drawn at some stage, and it’s the old stables and historic buildings in the villages that he enjoys sketching the most.
It was after retiring as a doctor that he ramped up his drawing and a selection of his work will be on display at the upcoming Barry Fundraising Art Exhibition to be held at the Barry Hall on September 17 and 18, 10am to 4pm.