Painter laments trend to white but it's still tops in cricket

Image: Courtesy of fellow bloggers at Hue Color Consulting.

HOLD your breath and steady yourself for the coming announcement but the lid's not being lifted on anything here. In fact, the lid is going back on the can. One of Redland City's most experienced painters, Barry Short, has revealed his retirement plans. Barry is a longtime advertiser in our Trade Services section where he describes himself as "your friendly, reliable local painter". He's proud that he has been able to conduct his business totally within the Redland boundaries for the past 20 years.

A TRUE 'gentleman painter', Barry estimates he has worked on thousands of houses in the district since he moved from Sydney with his wife Linda and their sons Bradley and Mathew. His grounding in his trade came from a painting and decorating apprenticeship with the Waltham Forest Borough Council in north-east London before he and Linda married in 1967.

"We were married in March and came to Australia in June – two young people looking for adventure," he says.

WHEN the Shorts tired of the urban pressures of Bondi, they headed straight for the then Redland Shire, rented a unit then bought an Alexandra Hills home where they still live.

Although Mathew opted for a career as a chef, Bradley has followed his dad's footprints and the pair happily work together. Barry says he has seen a lot of change in his trade: "When I started it was all with oil-based enamels but now the modern acrylic paints make it so much easier and people can have fun with colours."  He still prefers what he terms 'solid' colours despite a trend to lighten shades by addition of big percentages of white.

IN FACT, he says white is so much in fashion that one manufacturer's latest colour cards display 135 different 'whites'. However, cricket whites happen to be a favourite for Barry, who played with the Alexandra Hills club some years ago and now looks forward to his former countrymen holding the Ashes in the coming series against Australia.

WHEN discussing his retirement plan and reflecting on his life, "Barry" Short has revealed his driver's licence bears a different spelling of his Christian name – it is "Bari". "My father served in the Royal Horse Artillery in World War II and after he was wounded he was taken to the Red Cross in Bari, Italy," he says. "That's why he named me 'Bari'." A painter needs to get on with the job without wasting time talking, so the solution has been to 'Australianise' his name, and all those happy clients will remember him as "Barry".

This column has appeared in The Redland Times.