Unpopular Pelicans

I've painted quite a few 'Penguin books' paintings, most often with orange as the dominant colour, but in this painting I've chosen a range of their Pelican books, non-fiction titles from the 1930s to 1970s. The books that I chose all relate to aspects of the unusual year we're in, classic books on diseases and pandemics and the state of the world.

With these book paintings, I walk a line between the clean lines of the originals, and the chaos that can be achieved with thick brushstrokes and spatters, and I let myself go a bit more towards chaos on this particular one. The paint is applied thickly in places, and in thin washes and drips in others. Some of the text is partly obscured, and there are splats and scratches in pencil and charcoal. It may sound a bit silly, but working on this painting was a bit cathartic in these dark and uncertain times.

The sides of the canvas are painted, and the painting is sealed beneath a glossy varnish. It's ready to hang without needing to be framed.

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Painter from the Blue Mountains. I've had paintings in the Sulman Prize 2012‚ Mosman Prize 2012‚ Calleen Art Prize 2013‚ Gallipoli Art Prize 2014 & 2016, Gosford Art Prize 2018 & 2018, the ANL Maritime Art Prize 2018 and the 2019 Hawkesbury Art Prize (winner). In the last nine years I've had a lot of success with abstract paintings, drawing inspiration from the covers of 'Popular Penguin' paperback books, from the classic Monopoly board, Uno cards, and other pop culture icons. The paintings are distorted representations of the subject matter, transformed with thick brushstrokes and often random lettering, retaining the essence of the original but also becoming something new. I have had sell out shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore. My art has been featured in Art Edit magazine, The Grand Designs Australia Sourcebook and the Financial Review. PLEASE NOTE - commissions now closed for 2024. Thank you!