I am loving my recent exploration of more traditional landscape painting that has resulted from joining a Plein Air group of friends that goes out every week and that's really reinvigorated my draftsmanship and drawing skills after being super abstract for ages. I'm going to post some of the Plein air works and experiments here, from the little oil studies from outings in the bush to larger formal works and still lifes inspired by this return to realism and efforts to explore tonal qualities and light. I really want to combine these lessons of traditional technique with some sort of abstraction eventually, but will work towards that.
I studied a BFA in Painting and Sculpture at CoFA, UNSW and have shown in lots of group shows, with different curators like AK Bellinger and Amber Cresswell Bell, and I've been a finalist in quite a few art prizes like the Glover Prize and the John Villiers Outback Prize. I haven't quite worked out where my painting is going and haven't really found my style yet, definitely its not 'matured' yet and I'm still exploring and but I think this revisiting of realism and representation in traditional ways in helping me move towards what I want to say and communicate about the Australian bush and landscape ... sometime maybe.
I am really interested in the special light we have in Australia and the weird textures and landforms and hopefully I'm working towards conveying something of that specialness. I'm hoping by returning to the tenets of traditional Australian impressionism and those painters, and re-engaging with the landscape though those traditional means and sort of coming full circle to the canon but also combine with the lessons my my contemporary more abstract painting practice, I might work towards something kind of good and interesting.
So I'm selling a variety of stuff, from quick outdoor studies from the bush and National Parks around Canberra to more worked up studies of Sydney architecture and suburbs. I grew up in Sydney, and I miss the light and atmosphere of the city and harbour that's so different to the ACT, so I want to do a whole series of Sydney buildings and streetscapes, in the process of re-exploring my traditional techniques. I must admit it started as a bit of a technical exercise but I hope some of these might resonate with some Sydney-siders and they might recognise some of these views and especially the light and feeling of these places, especially the dilapidated or demolished ones. If anyone has a particular place they want to recommend, or any photos please give me a message - I'd love to get ideas for this series.