ANIMALS have helped revive the career of an acclaimed artist, writes SARAH HUDSON

Paul Boromeo was lifting an emu in an outdoor toilet last year when the bird put a giant gash in his leg.

"My wife wanted to get me to hospital to get a tetanus shot, but I just said 'if they find out that I got it from being in a dunny with an emu I'll get locked up', " says Paul, in his laconic drawl.

"I mean, what a way to earn a quid.

"I just wanted to get the emu's head above the toilet door."

Paul, who now sports a scar on his leg, is not certifiable, although many might argue his choice of profession is slightly batty.

Calling himself the Eccentric Bushman, Paul is an artist-cum-photographer who, when he's not drawing internationally-acclaimed art, herds his pet emu, chooks, geese, sheep, the occasional turkey and even his mates for quirky photo shoots.

Taking the pictures around his 4ha Lockwood farm, near Bendigo, he uses old sheds and machinery to depict iconic Australian bush farm scenes, all done with a cheeky wink.

"I go to bed at night and my head spins with different ideas," says Paul, who sells his work around Bendigo and at his own gallery.

"I get up the next day and think I've got to borrow Joe Blow's sheep or Tommy's blue heeler.

"Then I call up my mates, just local bushies and farmers, and I say bring your old dirty shirts and don't shave and I give them a bit of glory.

"I love animals and I use all my pets.

"Most of the chooks run off used to spend half my time chasing them but I have got a beautiful chook who's 15 years-old. He's called Big Dix, and he's a star. He loves having his photo taken."

Considering Paul spends his time chasing chooks and lifting angry emus, each photo takes just on one hour to shoot using a digital camera, tripod and a friend pressing the button.

The secret to the perfect shot is photo montaging: a process that involves combining the best elements of a series of photos into one image, although some photos work in just one shot.

Paul does this with the help of a graphic-design friend.

"I have three kids, the eldest is six, and they know more about computers than me," Paul says. "Everything is real, but we just bring the best elements together."

Surprisingly, Paul has been taking his photos for only three years, with drawing his lifelong pursuit.

But even in art, he brings an eccentric quality.

From the earliest age, as a boy growing up in Bendigo, Paul drew, guided by his uncle Alan Linsey Boromeo, a painter and sculptor.

He says even as a youngster, he was eccentric.

"I'd go to parties and everyone was listening to modern music and I'd sit in the corner and sing Slim Dusty," he says. "I've been a bit of an old bloke even since I was a kid.

"Drawing was the only thing I could do. My Dad is an electrician and he started me on a four-year apprenticeship and it got to day three and he sent me packing. He thought I'd accidentally kill him."

Instead, he studied fine arts at La Trobe University and went on to work as a technician at Bendigo Art Gallery in the 1990s, which involved everything from cleaning toilets to jackhammering the floorboards.

There was even an unfortunate incident where his pet goat, brought in to keep the grass short, instead infiltrated the gallery and left goat deposits by the paintings.

Each night he would go home and work on his portraits: "Some people light a cigarette. But I'd lock the door, turn on the music and draw," Paul says.

Never did he consider himself a worthwhile artist.

That was until, on the advice of a friend, he submitted a drawing to the International Biennale Exhibition of Contemporary Art, in Florence, Italy.

Paul won first prize for a portrait of his mother.

Ten years on he says he is only just starting to recover from the win.

"It was the worst thing that ever happened to me," Paul says.

"All hell set in. Everyone put me on a pedestal and I felt I had to aim at a certain level. I couldn't do it. The light was on but no one was home.

"There was a lot of pressure. People were telling me to go to New York."

At his lowest point, he burnt his drawings.

"I could spend 12 months on one work and then put a match to it. I've done that five times," Paul says.

"I did a picture of John Laws and finished it and then poured petrol on it.

"It just didn't look right. It bugged me. I think to myself the eyes aren't right or the ears are too big. To be honest, putting a match to it was a relief.

"Dianne (his wife) goes berserk.

"She made me promise not to burn them again so now I bury them.

"I tell you, being an artist is a good way to end up in the nut house."

Out of the curse of the win, he says came a blessing.

Turning his attention to his photos for three years has now given him confidence to return to drawing.

He recently drew his mate, football legend Tommy Hafey, which he enjoyed for the character and lines on his face.

While his confidence has returned with drawing, Paul says he will not abandon his photos, with demand for both coming from around the globe.

"Someone called from France the other day who wanted a print and also Toronto that's in Canada, right? and Korea too.

"I'm more confident now.

"I'm not doing it because people want me to do it.

"It's taken 10 years to get back."