australian landscape sketches: Works on paper
About Yarra River Trees I used to take the short cut from my inner suburban house in Abbotsford, Melbourne, on the way to Victoria Street, Richmond to go grocery shopping. One minute you’d be in car lined streets, the next bush paradise – an undisturbed - except for the occasional walker or rider or seasonal kingfisher - patch of landscape along the banks of the Yarra River. I'd dawdle along the rough, muddy banks while a dense cover of eucalyptus trees punctuated my movements. Rain, hail or shine I would take that route. Sometimes on particularly hot, silent summer's days, the heat would shimmer in the air. Nervous, floating gum trees enveloped you, while you walked deliberately, heavily – just in case there were snakes lying near – while rays of intense bright light punctuated the spaces between the dry, expressionist trees. Mother Earth in Suburbia. |
About the Earth Changes
Inspired by the australian coastal environment during a blisteringly hot summer. Hot red oranges, brilliant blues, deep purples and hot pinks greet you at sunset, and are unforgettable. I wanted to communicate the brilliant intensity and power of the experience - of being alone and swept up in the elements of nature. When you're standing there at the waters edge, you can forget about ‘reality’ for a second. The sand and sea, up and down, merge in your mind. How long have you been there? You don’t know. Time and space become mutable. The Little Girl Imagine how overwhelming it must be to be a small child at the beach. But yet the little girl in 'Earth Changes 6' just accepts it all with joy. When I saw her at the beach she reminded me that if you try to keep a sense of joy, spontaneity and openness in your hearts, change can happen and maybe you can be the calm in the storm. |
Flipbooks
Theses watercolours are structured around split horizontal or vertical views that are different points of view of the same place. It's like the old flipbooks where you can assemble different heads to go on different bodies. Which can be strange and disorientating. |