Initiated last year celebrating the Press Service International young writer program with Christian Today, Tronson du Coudray created another art work for our major sponsor, Mr Basil Sellers AM.
The 2013 painting 'Young Writers' created quite an impression upon everyone within the PSI network with a depiction of young writer's eyes – eyes of different colours and shapes and texture and symbolism.
That Tronson du Coudray painting 'Young Writers' was highlighted in this Christian Today column and promoted through various media outlets and soon gained a notoriety of its own.
The question then became, what might Tronson du Coudray come up with as an art work for the 2014 Press Service International young writer program for Basil Sellers.
Moreover how might such an art work match the celebrity of that original painting that set such a high bar for the future.
Background of Tronson du Coudray
'du Coudray' is a French title which belonged to the Tronson name and that history can be read and viewed on the Tronson 'Logo Story' web site.
In 1999 I came under medical supervision and turned to art to provide personal relaxation and in 2003 Mr Basil Sellers provided the funds for an art gallery (Basil Sellers Art Centre) in Moruya (NSW south coast) in association with our tourism walk, Australia's Bush Orchestra. This was the same property that Timeout in Moruya was located where Australian Institute of Sport athletes visited for their own respite.
A year later I established the Basil Sellers $15,000 Art Prize and as my own art developed so too I was regularly commissioned by various ones for specific art works, featuring philosophical ideas. It was during these Moruya years that I adopted this French family name as my 'stage name' for my art.
In December 2005 we relocated to Tweed Heads where the Tweed Basil Sellers Art Studio was established and where I pained the commissioned trilogy "Sport Anguish' for Basil Sellers. Those art works were titled Despair, Confusion, Hope.
Over a period of years I have dedicated myself to relaxation time slots by engaging in art and some of these works can be viewed on my art page. Meanwhile Basil Sellers established the $100,000 Sport-Art Prize at the Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne University and in 2013 another rural art prize, the Basil Sellers Midge Point Art Prize on the Whitsundays .
Writer's Block
To come up with another idea for the 2014 young writer celebration for Mr Basil Sellers required something quite different, so I worked on the idea of the difficulties these 72 young people have in coming up with something fresh every month.
Deadlines wait for no man and so it is with these young writers in coming up with a fresh idea for an article and then sending it off for publication and waiting breathlessly until publication day whereupon they have thrown themselves out to world for criticism.
We now know, that many of them sweat drops of blood (as it were) as their dead line gets closer and closer. We have a system whereby the Week coordinators who have 14 young writers in their charge send out reminders, 8 days out, 5 days out and 2 day out. The young writers refer to it as the dreaded countdown.
'Writers Block' is therefore not uncommon and hence the idea came to the fore to paint a philosophical work that might depict the drama and frustrations of of what it might be like, to experience writer's block.
I present 'Writer's Block' which is now in the Basil Sellers collection for Christmas 2014.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html