IT WAS a blistering hot summers day when artist Martin Day drove his Ford Falcon to Alice Springs.
The year was 1987 which meant no air conditioning and windows wound all the way down.
“My niece was in the car with me and between Coober Pedy and Alice Springs an eagle came flying down until it was level with the passenger side window,” he said.
“It was looking at me side on.
“Its feathers looked like fingers as it glided smoothly right next to me.”
He said he was driving at 90 kilometres an hour and the raptor was matching this speed.
“This seemed to go on for about an hour and within that time I felt a connection between the bird and myself,” he said.
“It was stunning, and the bird was big!
“They grow up to nine feet in wingspan.”
This experience drove him to paint multiple artworks of the majestic birds of prey.
Canvas after canvas, sketch pad after sketch pad was filled with different eagle drawings, each one grander and more detailed than the last.
Then ... he stopped.
“I had a 20 year break from painting entirely,” he said.
“I went into signwriting and built a business.
“I also worked for Channel 10 as a courtroom illustrator.”
He said he was given a pager and buzzed when a big case was ‘going down’.
He’d be rushed off to the courthouse or TV station office with paper and artist pencils in hand.
“The TV station would send a cab for me and sometimes a chopper depending on the location,” he said.
“They’d message me a little bit of information, I’d meet up with a reporter at the courthouse and we’d both go in together.“I’d sit in the courtroom and pencil it all out over the course of about an hour and a half and then on the way back in the taxi cab, I’d colourise it and make a bunch of notes.
“The reporter would be sitting with me the whole time saying things like ‘get that guy on this angle’.
“A lot of the drawing showed prosecutor, judge and lawyers next to each other when in reality they weren’t that close.”
Then disaster struck and a serious fall landed him in hospital.
Even worse, the injury all but destroyed his right arm and for an artist who is right hand dominant, was a tragedy.
“I had a series of operations on my arm, they were going to amputate it but thankfully it never came to that.
“I still have some issues with range of movement but I’ve managed to get most of the use back again.”
He said his hiatus from art and painting his beloved eagles ended two years ago.
A water colour painting of a bald eagle was recently awarded a prize at a competition held in the United States.
“I found details on the competition online during a search for prominent art contests,” he said.
“I wanted to make America a target for my work because of how Americans feel about eagles, and not just the bald eagle, although that is by far their favourite.”
His artwork won the Talent Prize Award at the prestigious Art Show International Gallery International Juried Art Competition in Los Angeles this year.
“This was an incredibly gratifying experience,” he said.
“The winning drawing was the first I had completed with my reconstructed hand in more than 20 years.”
He is preparing for an exhibition next year in Beaudesert where the theme is birds of prey.
“I’ve started with a pencil drawing for that,” he said.
“I think I’ve always been good at art, my teachers always said I painted well and used my work as an example for the other students.
“Both of my parents were artists and I remember seeing my father paint and being awestruck by the work he did.
“It feels good to be back doing what I love.”
• The Queensland Wildlife Artists Society are holding an exhibition at the Boonah Regional Art Gallery Feathers, Fur and Flowers, from Wednesday March 15.