Artists Blog

Swan river at Bayswater, acrylic on canvas, 101cm x 101cm (40″ x 40″) 

I love saying those words - “It’s finished!”

Sometimes it’s hard to know when you’ve reached that point, and it’s so easy to go into “Overkill” mode when painting. Stepping waaay back and even looking at the piece in the mirror can all help.

Detail

I’ll have to wait until all the thunderstorms and rain to clear before I can varnish.

 Detail

On the weekend we dined at Marmion Beach at sunset, just gorgeous.

I can feel another pastel painting bubbling up….

Last night we attended the Angelico Exhibition opening night in the city. Artists are selected secondary school students from all over the state.

Jez really had to push his own boundaries with this piece - the largest he’s ever done as well as being a self-portrait. A while back I photographed the art students at his school under dramatic stage lighting. From these they painted self portraits. Jez’s piece was selected for the exhibition.

There are some amazing pieces created by such talented artists who happen to be high school students. Everything from puppets, books, clothing, huge sculptures and evocative paintings and drawings. If you get a chance, pop in and have a look.

Exhibition until Friday 27th August 2010, Foyer, Forrest Centre, 221 St George’s Tce, Perth.

Meanwhile, I’m dancing with the brushes again - Work In Progress report:

 Orange underwash to lay down my tonal blocks.

Watercolour effects are possible with acrylic and canvas.

I keep my reference photos standing upright in a perspex display stand - one way to keep the paint splatters off them!

“Quietly” acrylic on canvas 100cm x100cm (40″ x 40″)

Finally finished! I’ve been working non-stop on this river painting and am finally happy with it.

Lots of experimenting with bold colour and big brushwork, trying to achieve big swathes of movement.

Breaking away from my usual realist, representational mode is still not easy, but I’m working on it. The mindset when painting on this scale is worlds away from my much, much smaller birds.

Exhibition runs from next Monday 18 August until Saturday 28 August at  The Park Centre, East Victoria Park.

I’ve been spending a lot of time by the banks of the Swan, following it along the South Perth, Victoria Park, Belmont, Bayswater and Swan Valley foreshores. Soon I hope to follow it along it’s Bassendean  (of Rolf Harris fame) banks.

A pair of labs were having a fabulous time retrieving not one, but two, balls at the same time. During the middle of winter, swimming across the Swan was a superb effort!

See them?

Winter in Perth means rainfall, if we’re lucky. Up in the Hills to the east are an abundance of brooks, creeks, dams, weirs and dams.

Exploring Jane Brook on a crisp winter morning was quite the adventure.

The brook has been dammed with a weir and is a popular swimming spot in warmer months.

Jez and his mate found many ways to amuse themselves.

If it could be walked across, they would try it, no fear of consequences.

There were so MANY birds there is not enough room in this post for them all. But the Splendid Fairy Wrens were so cheeky I had to show them to you here.

Here is the jewel coloured male

And here showing his bib

Not far behind was a little blur in the bush, the more discreetly coloured female.

Inspired by such wonderful waterways I hit the canvas, and here’s a snippet of my current Work In Progress (undoubtedly influenced by a certain Fairy Wren’s colours….)

“Whispers” Acrylic on canvas 100cm x 100cm (40″ x 40″)

Years and years ago I remember the absolute horror I felt when someone stuck a 3inch hake brush in my hand and said “A whole painting with just this brush.” It was watercolour,I did it, but hated it. I never picked up a big brush again, unless it was to paint the house or undercoat a canvas. Well recently I have been feeling I need to “loosen up”, and take a break from the fine work with 20/0 brushes.

This acyrlic painting has so many layers of watercolour-like washes, with me battling to get away from fiddling. I would feel good about a section I had been working on until I stepped back away from it. If I couldn’t see brushstrokes at 20 feet away I wasn’t happy. Back to the big brush to paint over details. Also, as this was for an a exhibition recording a particular place, I needed to identify it with the city landscape in the distance. Painting city buildings is definately NOT in my comfort zone! In fact I can’t ever recall having painted landscape structures at all.

It wasn’t unitl the final stages of the painting that I allowed myself to go down to a size 5 round brush.

Exhibition on now until August 7 at Belmont Forum

Here are some of my original reference photos, taken at the Swan River foreshore in Belmont. My interpretation is not a direct copy of the photos, but more my spin on the colours and atmosphere I felt. So different to how I usually paint!

Lots of squabbly chatter from the White Cheeked Honeyeaters around the foreshore.

Just around the bend of the river is the Garratt Road Bridge, a lovely old wooden bridge with lots of character.

Rivers have been in front of my lense a lot lately - painful as it initailly was, I can feel more “Big Brush” paintings coming on!