Going out for Dinner - Chin Strap Penguin

My work is driven by a fascination with the fleeting moments in nature that reveal far more than they first appear to. Sometimes it’s the split second when an animal’s movement or expression hints at resilience, character, and the wild rhythms of the world. Other times it’s the way light shifts across a landscape — a brief flare of illumination that transforms ice, water, or sky before disappearing again. I am drawn to places where both the creatures and the environment live at the very edges of human experience, where the landscape is raw, the light is mercurial, and survival demands a certain boldness from everything that inhabits it.

There is a particular kind of magic in Antarctica — a mixture of silence, scale, and sheer abundance of life that rearranges your sense of what the world can be. During a recent expedition, we found ourselves surrounded by millions of penguins, each colony a living, shifting tapestry of sound and movement. Among them, the chinstrap penguins stood out immediately. They were bold, expressive, and endlessly entertaining, as if each one carried a distinct personality stitched into that thin black line beneath the chin.

This painting was inspired by a moment that lasted only a heartbeat but stayed with me long after we left the ice. From the side of a zodiac boat, camera in hand, I watched a chinstrap penguin “porpoise” — launching cleanly out of the water, suspended for a breathless instant before slicing back beneath the surface, only to reappear metres ahead. It was a display of pure athleticism and joy, a reminder that even in the harshest environments, life finds ways to be playful.

In translating that moment to canvas, I wanted to capture not just the physical motion but the spirit of the animal — the spark, the determination, the almost mischievous confidence that chinstraps seem to carry. The painting is as much about that personality as it is about the icy water and the stark Antarctic light. It’s a tribute to a creature that thrives where few others can, and to the privilege of witnessing such energy in one of the most remote places on Earth.

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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”