Left with a love of art

By Bridget Brady
ARTIST Ern Trembath attributes determination and his love for art as some of the reasons he has successfully learned to paint left handed.
Mr Trembath, 66, lost partial use of his favoured right arm when he broke his neck in a car accident six years ago.
But the Cranbourne artist did not want the accident to deter him from continuing his passion of painting the bush, so he switched hands.
Mr Trembath has since gained most of the use of his right arm but continues to paint left-handed for the majority of his work as he cannot hold his right arm up for long periods of time.
Mr Trembath said he found the transition relatively easy.
“When there is a want to do something it really comes from the heart and not the hand,” he said.
“It just becomes a natural thing. I think art has got me through the accident. I was determined because of that.”
Mr Trembath, who owns Gippsland Galleries in Cranbourne, set up a gym at his home and persevered with rehabilitation to eventually get back the use of his right arm – one year after his accident.
“I decided I wanted to get it back.”
He said the quality of his work had not changed since he switched to being left-handed.
Mr Trembath spent 16 years in the graphic arts and has had Gippsland Galleries for 27 years.
His favourite subject to paint is the bush and Mr Trembath said many of his favourite places to paint had been burnt out during the Black Saturday fires.
Many of his friends also lost property in the fires.
But Mr Trembath said he was not interested in capturing the blackened devastation, calling it “forbidden”.
“The blackened trees are there as a monument to the people who lost their lives and property. There is no way known I could put it onto a canvas. That’s their little memories, their shrine to the devastation.”
Since the fires, Mr Trembath has donated some of his works that were painted before the fires and raised more than $15,000 with proceeds going to the CFA and distributed by Rotary clubs for fire relief. “It’s something I felt I could do. It made me feel good.”
Since he won an art competition at 12 years of age, Mr Trembath has won numerous awards and judged art competitions around the state.
Mr Trembath’s works will be showcased at the upcoming Kevin Hill’s Top Ten Australian Artists Show at Narre Warren on 3 and 4 October.
Casey mayor Geoff Ablett said it was wonderful that a Casey artist had been invited to join the show.
“This proves that Casey is a vibrant arts and cultural hub and Ern’s works are set to further enhance what is already a very popular art show,” Cr Ablett said.
Gippsland Galleries is located at 1656 South Gippsland Highway in Cranbourne.