Purple dawn

Living here on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland offers up some beautiful landscape from the coastal fringe to the hinterland. The most dominant landscape features are the extinct volcano cores of the Glasshouse Mountains which can be seen from all directions. The hinterland in particular reveals sublime and dramatic light variations especially after passing storms which is a delight to experience and a wonderful source of inspiration.
The joy I experience at these times comes out in the heightened palette with its bright colours and playful approach to the relationship between the defined line work and the loose blocking in of colour. I like to use colourful under painting and glazes to generate colour intensity along with strong outlines of either black or colourful highlighting. The goal is to transmit an experience and tap those memories of sunrise and the symbolic meaning of new beginnings. This painting is a triptych and can be hung with edges touching or separated as in the gallery image.

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Wayne smith is an independent artist working out of his studio/ gallery, ‘Studio 5 Art Gallery’, located in the Caloundra Industrial Estate, Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast just north of Brisbane in Queensland , Australia.
He has been a practising freelance artist for the past 30 years with a broad range of experience from solo shows through to venue theming, murals and public art. He has recently opened Studio 5 Art Gallery up to the public where potential buyers may view the work first hand.
His preferred mode of working is developing different series of works, which, he states, allows him the flexibility and creative playfulness to explore techniques and styles appropriate to the content and subject matter at hand. The two dominant streams of work are themes relating to landscape and water. In the landscape inspired works the image field moves from structured abstract pattern fields through to representational broad gestural techniques contained within bold dark line work reminiscent of woodblock prints. The later more stylised works contain a sinuous, romanticised other worldly element with colour generating mood and intensity whereas the former is more structured and subtle focussing on presence rather than image.
In contrast the water themed work is inspired by his love of surf and being in and around it which is one of the reasons he moved to this location. There is a calming sensuousness to these fluid forms with the changing colours tones and textures that move from subterranean depths up through the light and water column. Much of this work is also inspired by the experience of snorkelling over coral with its myriad random forms and colour variations.
These works come out of a deep commitment to his practice and a desire to share with others visual forms that are inspired by the natural world and elements within it. Bringing imagery into the home or business inspired by nature allows us to honour our connection with it.
His experience has also encompassed many commissions for residential, corporate and public settings. He enjoys collaborating with clients in bringing their dream to fruition should they wish to commission artwork for a specific purpose size or location.