While Drinkwater himself is a finalist in this year’s Wynne Prize, along with fellow Novocastrian Rachel Milne. Thespian John Bell, the brother of Newcastle painter Michael Bell, is also the subject of an Archibald finalist work by Loribelle Spirovski.

Dalton’s hyper-realistic painting depicts Consalvo and Drinkwater sitting on the lounge in their Mayfield home – possibly making it the first time anything Mayfield has been depicted in the esteemed prize. 

Drinkwater and Dalton are stablemates at the Nanda Hobbs Contemporary Gallery, Sydney. 

“He pitched the idea and we said, “Okay, come up to Newcastle,’” Drinkwater said. 

“It was lovely, he caught the train up from Sydney and we showed him the beach. 

“We cooked lunch and then he did some drawings and took some photos. Then he produced this amazing work. It’s a testament to his talent.”

Drinkwater’s landscape work titled Passage to Rungli Rungliot was announced as a finalist in the Wynne Prize on the same day. 

The artist spent four days in a “gorgeous hut” in the Tasmanian highlands last winter. The painting is a result of this experience. 

“It’s so cold and grey, but every now and then a shard of light breaks through the clouds and there is this amazing patina,” Drinkwater said. 

“It’s all about the moment the clouds part and the sun hits the landscape.” 

Dalton said of the subjects of his Archibald entry that he was “completely charmed” by them both. 

“There appears a genuine joy in their independent togetherness and a very pleasing asymmetry in James’s frenetic energy and Lottie’s unruffled calm,” he said.

The artist said he wanted  to capture “that feeling” while adding a theatrical element. 

Rachel Milne’s landscape Rainy Day, Hill End is also a finalist in the Wynne Prize, capturing the historic village near Bathurst on a winter’s day in June 2016.

“I loved the isolation and the sense of history,” Milne said.