I first encountered Byron "Brian" Walden-Gold in about 1987, moving stock from a picture framing business that he ran from a shopfront in Dudley Street Coogee.
He said that he was closing the business to concentrate on his main work. When I asked him what work that was, he said he was a painter, meaning a fine-arts painter.
I misunderstood what he meant, and ended up employing him as a house painter.
And what house painting it was! The ceilings in our modest Californian-style bungalow ended up looking like something from the Sistine Chapel, a riot of colour
and decorative features.
Bryon Walden oil painting of Coogee Beach, 1986
This area looks very different now. The observation tower
and toilet block were demolished as part of the beachfront
redevelopment project from 1987
Brian was a prolific painter, and his subjects included oil paintings of Coogee Beach, and watercolours of buildings and sites around Coogee. He was a
good draughtsman and his black ink line drawings of local historical buildings were finely wrought and exceptional. With an interest in all things Coogee, we
bougt a number of his works at an exhibition he had at the Coogee Bay Hotel, and some others directly from him.
Brian was a big roly-poly man in his 50s with long blond hair, sometimes tied back in a pony-tail. He had an artistic air about him with a broad regional English accent.
Having met him, I realised he was something of a fixture on Coogee Beach and its promenade, standing in front of a canvas on an easel, painting a local scene.
Unlike some plein-air artists
who enjoy the attention, Brian hated an audience. If he realised you were standing behind watching him paint, the normally good natured artist would turn, brush in hand, and give you a
withering stare until you moved on.
Bryon Walden line drawing of Coogee Fishing Club, 1986
Bryon Walden at easel, Coogee
Sometime in the early 1990s, he and his wife Carol decided to take an extended holiday back to England, before returning to Coogee. Unfortunately, we would hear
from acquaintances that they both became ill while back in the UK, and eventually passed on. Neither made it back to Coogee. Regretfully, when he was still alive, I didn't
find out more about where he came from and what made him want to paint. His legacy, for those of use who were lucky enough to acquire some of his works, is a record
of Coogee during the 1980s - a period before it was gentrified and was at its most colourful.
Perhaps there is a reader of this story who might know more of Bryon "Brian" - and what became of him and his work.
Giles Baths by Bryon Walden, 1988 - Ink and colour wash
Wylies Baths by Bryon Walden, 1986 - Ink and colour wash
