Adrian Lipscomb - Artwork
(For more detailed biographical notes see Adrian Lipscomb2 - EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki)
One of the pastimes I took up in my retirement was painting – but with a difference.
I had studied art at the Royal Art Society of NSW in North Sydney when I was in my mid-twenties, and I dabbled in oils at that time. Later, as a Stock Auditor for an oil company in the 1970s, I spent a lot of time travelling in rural parts of Australia, and I often took my easel and oil paints with me so that I could indulge my artistic passion at weekends in the picturesque countryside or in the solitude of my motel room (see, for example, my oil painting Camp Followers at Karonga, Lake Malawi which is reproduced hereunder). My later careers in the Defence Department and as an academic and a lawyer, however, were invariably hectic, and allowed me limited opportunity to pursue such an interest.
So I was pleased, in my retirement, to find that I did have time to explore more innovative, computer-based, artistic techniques – particularly during the extended periods of isolation imposed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020.
Most of the following illustrations utilise various computer-generated programs and tools to manipulate photographs and achieve different effects. The end product is often referred to as "semi-realistic generative art". Colour-mixing and matching is much easier, and the technique requires different skills from oil painting – but can be no less complex when done well.
The Stages of Man
As a young man I was called up for National Service in the Australian Regular Army. I trained initially at Kapooka and Singleton, and later served with 4 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville. On my discharge in 1970 I caught a ship to South Africa, and then spent a year travelling around Southern and Eastern Africa, during which time I hitch-hiked in some very remote areas, and climbed Kilimanjaro with Nancy, an American girl. This was a seminal time of my life ... and I learnt much.
Africa
Israel
lsrael
Middle East
I returned to university in 1978 with a view to putting my travels into some sort of academic context. I studied Human Geography (Southeast Asian Studies) at Macquarie University in Sydney.
On graduation, I joined the Department of Defence in Canberra as a civilian Research Officer. Two years later I was appointed Executive Assistant to the Secretary of Defence (then Sir William Cole).
In 1985 I moved to the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO – later renamed the Defence Intelligence Organisation). In my capacity as analyst and desk officer responsible for specific South Pacific countries, I maintained a database and monitored political, economic and strategic events, proffering advice and analyses as events dictated. I then served as JIO’s External Relations Intelligence Liaison Officer with New Zealand (XRNZ) at a time when Australia was trying to steer an even-handed course in its relations with the US and NZ despite diplomatic friction between our two allies over access to New Zealand ports by nuclear-armed or powered warships.
After six years in Canberra, the lure of new and challenging activities beckoned. My partner, Barbara, and I relocated to the town of Bellingen in northern NSW, where we became involved in the tourism industry. We established Koompartoo Retreat, the first of a new style of “Farmstay” businesses in the area.
In 1994 I further developed this interest, and took up a volunteer position as Tourism Advisor to the Western Province Government of the Solomon Islands under the auspices of Australian Volunteers Abroad (AVA). I was based in Gizo, the capital of Western Province, and actively assisted many local villages to embark upon eco-tourism enterprises.
Two years later I returned to Australia and accepted a position as Associate Lecturer with the Centre for Tourism on the Coffs Harbour campus of Southern Cross University. I taught two units: International Tourism Perspectives and Tourism Research Methods.
I was then engaged by Lonely Planet publications to update and rewrite their Guide to Papua New Guinea. I spent several months researching the book in PNG in mid-1997, and it was published in 1998.
In 1999 I embarked upon a radical change in career focus. I commenced a law degree at Southern Cross University in Lismore, and graduated with Honours at the end of 2001; I was then admitted as a Legal Practitioner to the Supreme Court of NSW and to the High Court of Australia. I practised with a number of north coast legal offices until moving to STACKS the Law Firm at Nambucca Heads in 2004 – undertaking primarily criminal and civil litigation. Three years later I established my own law firm in Urunga: Adrian Lipscomb Solicitor.
In 2015 (at the age of sixty-five) I retired from active legal practice, but continued to undertake voluntary work, primarily with Australian Red Cross Emergency Services dealing with the unpredictable consequences of cyclones, floods and bush-fires up and down the east coast of Australia. In that same year I was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the Bellingen community.
So has my story unfolded.
My life has been far from perfect – but it has been an adventure. And I have always been just a heartbeat away from that shy young boy with the stammer.
