Beauty of bush beats world of finance

Flaxton artist Brett Campbell used to find beauty and splendour in the world of finance.

The old Brett was once a creature of finance - a Bank branch manager at the age of 26 who could relate to former PM Paul Keating's remark about "a beautiful set of numbers".

These days, he's transformed his life so that the greatest inspirations are to be found in the bush, usually around his beloved Kondalilla Falls and the escarpment.

At 34, Brett turned his back on the banking and the knockers who said he was mad to throw away his career.

He moved his young family from Palmwoods to the mountains to become a mosaic artist.

Now he spends his days transferring the beauty he sees all around him - from the tumble of the falls to dead trees and scuttling creatures - to intricate & colourful wall-size works of art.

That is between juggling his commitments as a father to three boys and one girl aged between 3 and 10.

After three years of artistic slog. Brett is making a real go of a huge gamble that has liberated his once-troubled spirit as much as his creative forces.

With wife Lesley behind him as a contributing designer & business guide he's creating quite a name for himself and an impressive body of works which are displayed on his website.

This internet connection has attracted interest from around the world and Brett's talking to more & more councils, developers and individuals keen to discuss commissioning one of his impressive mosaic artscapes.

He's close to completing a major undertaking featuring three of his favourite scenes - the escarpment at dawn, the middle falls at Kondallilla & a scene from the bottom of the main falls.

This will take pride of place in a wall for a new commercial development at Montville.

In the new year he will start work on a large private mosaic.

The days of battling for sales at the markets with smaller works are over.

Next year, he's also planning a major exhibition featuring all things Australian including bush, ocean & outback.

Brett has embarked on a spiritual mission to fill up as much wallspace, preferably bare space in the public eye, as possible.

"I would love to do a grey wall in one of those buildings down at Maroochydore" Brett said.

"One day, I hope to move on to some really large 3D works"

And Brett has no doubts that he will achieve these goals and more because he has something equally important as talent.

"When I started this there was a lot of discouragement, but what kept me going was a total belief in what I was doing"

That was back when he was having his premature mid-life crisis, slowly drowning in a sea of red & black financial ink.

"There was a time where I found a sort of beauty in that sort of thing (Banking and the world of figures)."

"Now I'm making the world a more beautiful place by making these things of beauty"

And the days of dragging himself off to work on Monday's are long gone.

"When I start the day, I say: Whoopee, what am I going to do today?"

It seems Brett's last big transaction- trading financial security for personal fulfilment - has paid off with interest.

And if the creative forces ever get too much for him, he just walks out the door and goes bush where inspiration is only a few footfalls away.