As a 15 year old, Raymond Arnold was given his first proper set of paints by ‘‘the thinnest man I ever knew’’ – a former prisoner of war in a Japanese camp.

In our university years at the Tasmanian School of Art, Raymond Arnold was an incredibly inspirational lecturer and mentor. Yesterday Raymond won the Gallipoli Art Prize for his work The dead march here today (pictured above). Today, the inspirational force is as strong as ever. Congratulations Ray.