But maths was his strong subject and it pulled him through so he ended up teaching the subject in the same school where he had learnt the subject.

And then another set-back – a bout of depression. And somehow in that illness, a psychologist persuaded him to start painting.

He found it helped and healed. “When I’m doing my art, I didn’t think about yesterday. I didn’t think about tomorrow”, he said.

This immersion in the moment and the colour and shape brought him back to the surface. In gratitude to his Aboriginal mother, he presented her and his children with a picture. “As a present, I wanted to do a kookaburra. My kids love them”.

He had started with no knowledge of painting or of printing but set out to learn, mostly through a part-week course at the TAFE in Moree. Last year, he moved into the commercial world, trying to make a living as an artist while retaining a part-time job as a teacher at Inverell – at the same school where he grew up and then taught.

And now he’s got an exhibition at the Gawura Gallery on the Armidale Road in Glen Innes. The show’s called “Bright and Deadly”, conveying the richness of colour and also the brutality of nature. it runs from Friday, January 12 until February 25.

The blurb describes it: “Brent Emerson, local Kamillaroi man, born in Armidale, grew up in Glen Innes and now living with his family in Inverell, has his first solo exhibition at Gawura Gallery the new Aboriginal Art Gallery in Glen Innes.

“Lloyd Hornsby, the owner and curator of the gallery, said that Brent’s work is some of the best he has seen from an emerging artist in a while. Lloyd believes Brent has a long way to go with his art practice.

“His medium of choice is lino prints and screen prints, he also uses acrylic, impasto gel and aerosol. His art influence comes from his family and the community, with a great love of nature and his Aboriginal language.”