Gelato Banksia 2018

This textured painting features one of my stylised Banksias and is one of the first works I completed for the 'Intersect Series'. (See below for further reading). I have been hoarding this painting in my studio for some time now, reluctant to let it go because the happy colours remind me a bit of David Hockney (one of my favourite artists). I am a prolific painter and art collector and have limited wall space for my growing art collection (which sadly doesn't include Hockney), so it's time to let this one go to it's forever home. Framed in a beautiful thick profile Natural Oak box.

INTERSECT
For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in the relationship between art and design. When I commenced my formal studies back in 1991, they were thrown into the same basket but I feel like they are wildly different subjects.

Having studied and practiced both disciplines, my work sits somewhere between the two, and it’s not always a place I feel comfortable. I have an ongoing internal tussle about where my art belongs. Every now and then I have to down my usual tools and set up a traditional still life scene that I studiously render in oils to prove to myself that I’m a ‘Real Artist’.

The intersect series is something I have been working on for a couple of years now, it’s about letting go; an admission and acceptance of my design background and a conscious merging of both disciplines into a body of work.

Still life is my favourite genre, yet these flowers in vases are clearly not painted from life. They are informed by synthetic cubist ideals and early pop art, and are unconcerned with form or perspective. Pictorial flatness is a naturally occurring theme in my work after many years designing logos and icons for single colour output, and the restraints of a long print design career have unlocked a deep appreciation and respect for the pleasure of applying the paint itself.

The works in this series explore both painterly and linear techniques, and are characterised by a central line through the composition that serves as the water line, refraction and intersect between the background, vase and surface. This technique somewhat mimics the imaginary grid structure I would use to set type and images in a traditional page layout.

You may notice a very faint © Copyright watermark across the first image. This only appears on my main digital file to protect my artwork from being downloaded and reproduced without my permission (it happens unfortunately).

I do try to make them as discreet as possible so as not to upset your delicate eye area. I promise your painting or print will not have a visible watermark all over it. I do include several cropped in shots of my work without a watermark in the gallery so you can clearly see the works close up.

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I’ve been making art for most of my life, though the path here hasn’t been completely straightforward. What was meant to be a one-year trip from the UK to Sydney in 1994 somehow turned into a permanent move, and Australia has felt like home ever since.
A lot of my work begins outdoors; walking, noticing plants growing through fences, strange colour combinations in nature, or bringing home flowers and cuttings to paint in the studio. Painting has always been a way for me to slow down and pay attention. It’s where I feel most myself.
Before returning to painting full-time in 2015, I worked across surface pattern design, printmaking and graphic design, and those influences still shape the way I paint today; through colour, rhythm, line and composition. I’m also deeply inspired by the simplicity and spontaneity of Chinese and Japanese ink painting, calligraphy and woodblock prints, though my work has gradually evolved into something much looser and more contemporary over time.
Since returning to full-time practice, my work has been exhibited in solo and group shows across Australia and selected as a finalist in prizes including the Calleen Art Award, Lethbridge Prize, Bluethumb Art Prize and the National Contemporary Watercolour Prize. My paintings and prints have also been licensed onto homewares and collected internationally.
I still feel genuinely grateful that I get to spend my days painting, and I hope that sense of joy, calm and curiosity finds its way into the work itself.