Some ‘Recent’ Artwork

This month, I am presenting six pieces from the pool of pieces that I have been working on over recent years. These particular pieces have typically been rarely shown, and I think that they deserve to be shown more. Some of these pieces were produced while I was still working four days a week, and some of these pieces were produced since retiring. All of these pieces have been done during multiple sessions, typically over many weeks or even months (where each session was typically a few hours at a time).

I get a lot of inspiration and energy from seeing the beauty in the real breathing world around me, especially the world illuminated with bright sunlight. I know from having photographed many things, and done drawings and paintings directly from the real world, that capturing that felt beauty is not easy. Our eyes can make good sense of scenes with huge ranges of tones and colours. Many colours and tones are very subtle, but important (such as the colours in reflected light). And the world is dynamic. Things change quite quickly (our planet is constantly spinning, so the sun's position appears to move across our sky; clouds change shape and move across the sky obscuring the sun, etc.). Some things change very quickly, such as the patterns of shadows of plant foliage in the wind.

Capturing scenes in full sunlight is usually difficult. It requires a lot of careful management to make sure the surface I am drawing or painting on is in the shade, and the remaining equipment is set up so that I can work quickly and reasonably comfortably. The first four pieces presented this month are attempts at doing artwork from real scenes illuminated by full sunlight. I like to work as much as possible directly from the subject, but because the sunlight changes quite quickly (through each day, and from season to season) and having limited opportunities to get back to particular scenes in similar sunlit conditions, the last two of these pieces experimented with combining quick onsite pastel studies with digital photographs taken of the subjects. The quick onsite pastels were used as the primary resource, and for adjusting the colours and tones of the digital photographs. The fifth piece is an abstract painting that was based on some ideas from doing many abstract images on my computer.

The final piece presented is a 'concept' painting about the Adelaide Park Lands.

Small Tree Trunk in Riesling Park

Large Pine Tree In Bell Yett Reserve

Cedar in Early Morning Sunlight

Orange Tree Outside the Winery

Painted Abstract

Encroachments on the Spirit of the Adelaide Park Lands