Fitzroy v Carlton, 1904 Grand Final, MCG

My artwork depicts a scene from the 1904 VFL Grand Final between Fitzroy and Carlton at the MCG. Here, we see Fitzroy’s Ern Jenkins about to contest the football with Arch Snell of Carlton - all while under the watchful eye of legendary umpire, Ivo Crapp.
It was Carlton's first appearance in a VFL Grand Final. The battle hardened Fitzroy outfit, on the other hand, was playing in its fifth season decider and hoping to bring home their third successive premiership.

A love of football history encourages me to reearch the subject so as to remain true to the scene by presenting it as it would have been witnessed by those who were there.

I create my artworks by building up layers of coloured pencil onto the page - adding detail, colour and tones as I move along. It is a time consuming method, but one that gives me great pleasure as I see the final image slowly emerge.

I hope you enjoy my art as much as I enjoyed creating it.

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I first became interested in the early years of the game after receiving a book on football history for my 10th birthday. The black & white photographs displayed in the early chapters showed horse drawn vehicles parked outside grounds that were filled with men and women dressed in what appeared to be their Sunday best.
I was amazed that the team I supported and its rivals were playing at a time before cars were driving on the roads that people used to get to the suburban grounds that I was only just beginning to learn about.

Some time back I set about combining my passions of football and art to create a series of football history artworks. When I felt satisfied that I was producing works that met my vision, I began to compile the pieces that would form the basis of my series.
Each piece is produced in full colour as a way of breathing life into the customary black & white record of the past. The players and their surrounds have been fully researched to portray each scene as historically accurate as possible. The period covered begins in the mid 1880s and runs through until a time just prior to World War I.

My chosen medium is coloured pencil. I love the tone and finish I get from using pencils and feel they allow me to incorporate the kind of detail that I envision for each piece - detail that is often absent in the historic photographic record.