Hugh Semple has opened his own gallery in the Riverina village of Oura. Photo: Supplied.
When a training accident brought Hugh Semple’s Army career to a sudden end, he found it tough to adjust to life out of uniform. An impulse to buy a handful of paints gave him renewed purpose and has led to a burgeoning career as an artist with his own gallery in the Riverina village of Oura.
“They call it adjustment disorder,” Hugh said, explaining the difficult transition to civilian life.
“Growing up I was the son of a cop, and I was proud of that and it was how I identified myself. Then I joined the Army and there’s a real prestige and good feeling that you are doing something meaningful and you dress in uniform, and you really stand out and it makes you proud.”
After six years in the army, a badly damaged shoulder and several surgeries forced Hugh out of his role in transport.
“I was excited at first, because I was on a military pension and was looking forward to a break from work, but that was very short-lived because there is this pressure of society saying that I needed a job,” he said.
“I found that my purpose disappeared because I didn’t really have anything else and I lost that army family.
“I don’t mean that you lose those friends, but you’re not with them every day, so it’s like you’ve left the tribe and it’s massive.”
Hugh Semple found his ‘tribe’ in the army and struggled to adjust when an injury cut his career short. Photo: Supplied.
Tinkering with cars, fishing and a few home renovations failed to fill the void and Hugh found himself slipping into depression and destructive behaviours.
“I started drinking a bit and I’d stay up until two o’clock in the morning and then sleep in till about two o’clock in the afternoon the next day and I think I was pushing my fiance away because I just wasn’t really paying her attention properly and I just didn’t have any direction,” he said.
“I felt like I needed to fix it, so I went into the Reject Shop and bought some acrylic paints and I sat down and I painted Lake Mulwala from a photo of when I went fishing there.
“It’s not like I had ever painted before and I didn’t really even scribble at school or anything but I saw a video of someone painting and I liked it.”
Art has given Hugh Semple purpose and a career after the military. Photo: Supplied.
Hugh’s first painting of a sunrise over the lake sparked something inside him and the former digger felt compelled to keep going, shifting from acrylics to watercolours. While his family was impressed, the aspiring artist wanted to put his work to the test in a public forum.
“I just never knew if it was actually good artwork or not, so for more motivation I did a market stall at Oura and sold three paintings straight up and then a heap of little cards, so I saw that there was some value in what I was doing,” he said.
“You start to get those ‘artist’s eyes’ and everywhere you go everything turns into a big painting in your mind and you start to see colours differently, and I think it makes you happier.”
Hugh Semple’s gallery at Oura – Sixspot Watercolour – is a place to work and to share his art. Photo: Supplied.
Hugh’s mental health began to improve along with his skills with a paintbrush as he captured rural landscapes, country vehicles, tall ships, rodeo action and anything else that caught his eye.
With the support of the local timber mill, Campbells of Oura, he opened his own gallery on the showroom floor, Six Spot Watercolour, and he has begun teaching classes in his tricky medium of choice.
“They say watercolour is the hardest medium to learn and it really took some persistence but I stuck with it and I liked it, and it’s now turned into a business,” he said.
“I didn’t know who I was after the army, and now I can proudly say that I’m an artist, and that’s how I introduce myself.
“It just gave me purpose and it was something that I feel I can latch onto for the rest of my life and hopefully I can pass all this on to my son and daughter.”
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