A Time to Tear down and a Time to Build

As a young boy growing up in a working class family, I was surprised one birthday with the best present one could ever wish for, a Meccano Set. Unlike lego in the 1960's, a Meccano Set offered endless possibilities to create real working class models of cars, trucks tractors and every boys favourite, the Crane. Many hours of toil and thinking went into creating these mechanical marvels. When they were completed, I would admire them, play with them, show them to everyone who came round and then.... and then......and then tear them down to provide the materials to build the next fantastic machine better, more complex and stronger than the one before. It was an evolutionary journey that took me onto a career in engineering and construction.

When challenged with the need to paint in mixed media, my mind turned back to my fun Meccano Days. And the parallels with Meccano and life. As life evolves and the problems of the world mount up, there comes a time when we have to tear apart and then rebuild to make ourselves more resilient, stronger, cleverer, more considerate... A Time to Tear down and a time to build is the story of our ongoing life. The painting symbolises how we plan, design and then build in everything we do. It also shows that life is always about the old and the new mixed together.

I particularly enjoyed making rusty paint and finding components from old computers to create the now very modern computer crane

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Andrew is a local Canberra and NSW South Coast who enjoys painting in acrylic and oil. His paintings are mostly of places, flora and fauna that he observes during his explorations around Australia.

Andrew began painting in 2007 when he commenced art lessons under the tutelage of Margaret Hadfield, a renowned Canberra artist (https://www.artistshed.com.au).  Andrew particularly likes capturing the colour and light in a landscape. His most recent paintings blend the science of colour and light with varying degrees of impasto texture to create Kosciuszko Mountain landscapes, Seascapes and a range of Canberra Autumn scenes.

Andrew continues to develop and perfect his painting style and occasionally seeks expert guidance from Margaret Hadfield.

Another artist who has influenced Andrew’s art work is Brisbane based artist De Gillett Cox (degillett.com.au). De developed a process of inking on a surface that had been heavily sculpted in thick impasto paint. De’s impasto painting technique appealed to Andrew’s already developing impasto style. De’s inking process added a new and very loose dimension to Andrew’s work. Andrew has continued to develop De’s technique and now uses gum tree leaves and seaweed as additional tools in the sculpting process.

As a keen bushwalker, Andrew has immersed himself in the landscape and captured that special moment when nature is at its best. “The science of capturing colour and light inspires me and when colour, light and emotion come together, you know you have a good painting”.

Andrew is often challenged by the destruction of natural habitat that he sees on his walks and the impact on our native flora and fauna. This has inspired underlying environmental themes in some of his works.

Andrew’s art style is continually evolving and varies from contemporary realism to abstract.

Exhibitions
Andrew exhibits his art at various local exhibitions and galleries, on his website artbyandrew.net and Facebook page @andrewsartstudio and in his home gallery by appointment.

Awards and Prizes

2023 and 2024 People's Choice at the 39th and 40th Radford Art Show, Canberra

2021 • Finalist in the Inaugural National Capital Art Prize

2020 • First Place in Abstract Exhibition at Queanbeyan Art Society

2019 • Finalist in the Basil Sellers Art Prize with his painting “Kosciuszko National Park, Lake Albina” exhibited at the opening of the new Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre in Moruya
• People’s Choice Award at the 35th Radford Art Show, Canberra

2018 • Best in Show Queanbeyan Arts Society (QAS) “View from Kosciuszko”
• First Prize in Acrylic Section at Queanbeyan Arts Society (QAS) for “White Cockatoo in Flight”
• First Prize in Acrylic Section at QAS Heritage Exhibition for “Perception of Place”
• First Prize at QAS for “Kosciuszko National Park, Lake Albina”
• People’s Choice Award at the 34th Radford Art Show, Canberra

2016 • Second Prize in Acrylic Section at QAS for “Sentries 2 – Cooma Plains”
• Third Prize in Oil Section at QAS for “Endangered, Red Tail Black Cockatoo

2015 • People’s Choice Award at the Royal Canberra Show for “See you Later Bill”
• Best in Show award in the Queanbeyan Art Society’s Lest We Forget Exhibition for the painting “...though poppies grow ….”
• Best in Show (Second) at QAS Abstract and Abstraction Exhibition for “Life”