Darrell White

White's father was part of the commissioning crew for the HMNZS Wakato and both Darrell and his brother were christened onboard her in New Zealand. Both brothers went on to serve in the navy and spent time based on Garden Island. White served on several Australian Naval ships including HMAS Westralia and HMAS Swan.

From a young age, he has harboured a desire to capture what he sees and to push his imagination. It was during his time in between watches as a signalman in the navy that his talent truly flourished.

"With my service in the Royal Australian Navy, I was limited to what mediums I could use in my spare time, thus the large number of works I have created are in pencil"

"One of my duties as a Signalman onboard HMAS Swan was to write down duties we would perform during the morning watch. One morning I decided to add an illustrative, comical look at the day ahead. This became a bit of a tradition and I finished each morning watch in this manner. However, this backfired somewhat when I was required to get up early for every morning watch to add the "art work"

Being photo-realistic and perfectly to scale, White's drawings of ships and bombers are painstakingly detailed. Two of his original pieces were purchased by the National Maritime Museum of Australia and in 2004; he produced his own calendar, which showcased ships such as HMAS Adelaide and HMAS Perth. Darrell also sells high quality prints taken from his original pencil drawings and these have proved extremely popular with past and present naval personnel.

After discharging from the navy in 1997 Darrell travelled extensively and later enrolled and graduated from the WA School of Art, Design and Multimedia. His drawing horizons expanded and he was soon experimenting in different mediums and subject matters. An exceptional coloured pencil sketch of Perth's Swan Brewery, was donated by White in 2004 and formed part of an exhibition for the "Sids and Kids" auction held at Tall Poppy Art Framers and Gallery in Safety Bay. It was in high demand and went on to generate a substantial amount of money for the organisation.

White has now turned his attention to oils and is busy working towards a solo exhibition. "I have been busy working on figure studies and local sea scapes. I have just completed an oil painting of Point Peron, which has interesting light due to the fact it was painted when the sun is still waiting to hit the sand. I am extremely pleased with the result".