Monthly Archives: March 2013

Retrospectus – A great night had by all.

The opening night of Retrospectus was a huge success. Over a hundred people attended and enjoyed a night of music, art, with a speech and raffle thrown in. Food and drink kept everyone happy and talkative and I managed a couple of sales with about four more possible sales on the cards. The exhibition is still on – indefinitely. Retrospect’s is open Monday to Friday 9:00 to 5:00 and all visitors are welcome. The paintings look great and it’s a lot of fun looking around different rooms and corners to see where the next painting may be.

My work is quite varied as the different sections on this website illustrate. The Professional Centre is an ideal venue for the variety of work Retrospectus offers. There are so many nooks and crannies in the centre for people to wander around in. Different works can be grouped in different sections. Some of the sections are suited to smaller works while others sections more suited to the larger ones. Even some of the offices in the centre have my paintings in them.

Retrospectus

Modendaity.

This painting is a comment on the absurdity of the idea of creating one’s own religion or spiritual belief. The turtle could be a man made god or possibly just a spirit of enlightenment. Its coming out of the clouds like a super hero is a comment on the need to find something greater than ourselves.

Tropical Design 1.

This is one of three tropical works shown in Retrospectus. It is painted in high keyed primary colours yet retains a heightened sense of realism. The use of complentary colours gives the work a supernatural strength.

The Professional centre is located at Level 9, Park Avenue, Coffs Harbour. It’s 3 doors past the car park on the same side of Woolies, or opposite Crazy Clarks.

Emerging Joys – a new painting.

Emerging Joys is another new painting showing at the Professional Centre. Here it is.

Emerging Joys

Emerging Joys.

This painting can be found in the Surreal Mixed Media Paintings section of this website. All the details can be accessed in the usual way.

Like many of my surreal mixed media paintings this work has been improvised from start to finish. The paintings is built up in layers of mostly oil paint. Ink has also been added to give the work a colourful edge which gives the painting the feeling of joy it expresses. The colours are mostly light. I have refrained from using darkness in the work to help express the happiness and liveliness of the topic.

An emerging joy can be the most pleasurable and exciting of all joys. When we anticipate something good coming the feeling of excitement is often greater than when the good thing actually arrives. The colours almost have a Christmas feel to them and the predominance of yellow helps to make everything glow. Light smothers everything. There are lights atop of lights in this painting.

While the mostly ink forms give the painting solidity and focus they do not dominate the work. Instead they help to bind the composition and keep the viewer’s eye moving around the work. The painting is only a small one which suggest the idea that the most special joys in lift come from the smallest and most insignificant things.

Mecha 2 – a new painting.

Mecha 2 is one of the new paintings in the exhibition. It’s 100 * 75 cm and painted in oils.

Mecha 2

Mecha 2.

This painting is exclusively painted in oils. It is built up using thin layers of oil paint, which gives the work its inner glow. The first Mecha painting incorporated ink into the composition. However, this painting uses only oils. There is a lot of movement in this work and a lot of delicate blending was done in order to achieve this.

This is not a mega city like the first Mecha painting. It is a scene of a joy ride at a carnival. The movement is chaotic mimicking he oscillating movement of the fun park ride it depicts. Fun as a topic is something I find easy to paint. I use bright, unmixed colours in a lot of my works and this retains a freshness to my work. The lights in the painting not only depict the lights of the ride and the fun park but also the joy and fun of the setting. Mecha 2 is not without an element of danger though. The blurred central ride car has a slightly ominous look to reflecting the danger and fear which are a part of the thrill of fun park rides.

Latest exhibition – Retrospectus.

Retrospectus is my latest exhibition. It will be held at the Professional Centre on the 21st of March 2013. It is subtitled ‘Celebrating 10 years of living and working in Coffs Harbour.’

There will be a variety of paintings produced in the last 10 years on display. There will also be music by Ava and a special guest appearance by John Arkin the ‘peoples politician’. Of course there will be the usual drinks and nibbles.

Hoping to see you all there.

latest exhibition - Retrospectus

Flier for Retrospectus.

In the last ten years in Coffs Harbour I have explored many topics and painting genres. I have probably concentrate on Botanical Paintings and Surreal Paintings mostly. However, the other sections represented on this site have also figured. The great thing about the Professional Centre is the higgledy piggledy space it offers. There are so many smaller spaces within the centre and also long halls and many offices. My paintings look great in the centre and the lighting is very flattering to my work.

Carol, who runs the centre is always friendly and bubbly. She would be most happy to give you a tour of the exhibition if you visit during office hours. The centre is open Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:00 and closed on weekends.