The Painted Sky

High Definition - the state of Australian painting in a post-digital age

2011-05-06T15:43:00.005+09:30

I have a painting in an exhibition opening tonight at Paradise Hills. The exhibition is called High Definition - the state of Australian painting in a post-digital age.

Late Run, 2010, oil on linen, 30.5 x 107.5 cm

High Definition will feature the work by artists:

Kevin Chin
Yvette Coppersmith
Ry David Bradley
Joseph Flynn
Juan Ford
Heesco Khosnaran
Sam Leach
Anthony Lister (Metro)
Michael Peck
Andre Piguet
Carmel Seymour
Shannon Smiley
Michael Staniak
Jim Thalassoudis
Alice Wormald
Camille Hannah

Paradise Hills

1-9 Doonside St
Richmond VIC 3121

www.paradisehills.com.au

4 New Paintings on the go.

2011-04-14T22:25:00.001+09:30

When you get back to painting after a long recovery from illness you might as well push yourself to try to get to higher level. 4 new paintings are on the go, all complex, all outside my comfort zone & all need to be completed by early May.

A small study and a larger painting of the Skipping Girl neon sign, both destined for Melbourne. The larger version, if completed on time will be for a curated exhibition called "High Definition - the state of Australian painting in a post-digital age" at the hip new gallery Paradise Hills. The exhibition opens on May 6 and is giving me the a fair bit of time-line stress.

The third painting is of the top of children's sideshow ride, an elephant sitting on a pink pillow against a burning sky. The working title for the painting is "I'm just happy to be here" and the elephant does look happy and all shiny. It's destined for Perth for Greenhill Galleries annual Squared exhibition in June.

The final painting will be the most complex of all to pull off, a parrot's skull on a pile of vintage alphabet blocks, in a dome & against the sky. The skull, dome, alphabet blocks and sky all have multiple meanings and the each alphabet block/image also has a meaning or more. I'll blog about this particular painting later, the how, the why of everything to do with it. I had an idea and it meant I had to find all the props fairly quickly. The dome was the easiest, the best score was getting the huge set of vintage alphabet blocks in their original wooden box on Ebay for $14.55 + postage. The hardest was getting a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo's skull and I cannot say that the South Australian Museum helped out because they didn't want it getting out, which made sense at the time. However, as I walked out of there into the bright light and away from the strange smells of chemicals and numerous draws of dead things, I wondered, why? it's inconceivable word will get out and they'll be inundated with people wanting parrot skulls?

Anyway, from the photo above you can see I'm having fun trying to set it up.

New Website

2011-02-28T12:03:00.004+10:30

I have finally redesigned and updated my website http://www.jimthalassoudis.com/ to include the most recent paintings, as well as creating several new sections. Also starting next month I'll be sending out a newsletter (no more often than once a month) to let people know what's coming up. To receive the newsletters click here and then subscribe to the newsletter.

It's going to be a very busy year for me and over the following months there will be regular updates to the website as new work is created. So, if you are interested, keep dropping by the website or subscribe to keep yourself updated.

Going Home: The process of creating a painting.

2011-02-04T18:49:00.004+10:30

I have just returned home after 9 days in hospital, major abdominal surgery to reconnect my bowel after the surgery a while back to remove a large benign tumor. I wrote about it here . All went extremely well, however I will still need surgery again in 3 months time to finally put all this behind me and be 100% back to normal.

Meanwhile, as I recuperate over the next month, apart from managing the pain I'll have a lot of time to lay about and think. I wont be able to paint for some weeks, but I can sit at the computer for short sessions timed against when the painkillers are most effective.

Going Home, 2010, oil on linen, 122 x 167 cm

Since I cannot paint anything new for a while, I might as well go through the process here of how one of the last paintings before going into hospital was created. Going Home, 2010, was the final painting painted for my exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery last year. I was supposed to go to the opening, instead became ill and not only couldn't make it to Melbourne to see my exhibition, but also the operation had to be rescheduled from early December to February this year.

The 122 x 167 cm oil primed linen canvas is given an all over ground usually a mix of browns & blues etc. A reasonable amount of painting medium is used and applied thinly with a brush. Then I use absorbent paper towel to rub off the oil paint until there is barely much more than a stained canvas remaining. The use of a high level of medium in the oil paint to start with is because 90% of it is removed leaving a super thin oil paint finish that also helps to seal the oil primed linen.

Because this is to be a dark painting with a fairly straight horizon line, I have decided to give it a second oil ground stain on the area that is to become the sky.

The next part of this abstract looking painting is the dark section at the bottom that is the landscape. A near black is mixed from about 7 colours and brushed on thin & even with a size 12 Mongoose brush leaving a solid even layer of oil paint.

At this point I could stop and have a relatively seductive and beautiful abstract painting. If I was a prolific artist prone to working in large series of slightly different paintings it would be an interesting exercise to paint a dozen of these to this level, each slightly different horizon line or rubbed ground colour and hang them about the studio and invite friends over for drinks, just to look at the expression on their faces and to hear what they had to say about my new minimalist phase?

However, instead of being the end, this is the point where it becomes complex, the start of painting the sky. The problem is a simple one, I need to make up most of the sky, blending several photos adding and subtracting bits, mixing colours that are different gradations from several photos to create a unified looking painting. Adjusting the painting's composition as I work my way from top to bottom, hoping that I'll get the gradations right and somehow get it all to work?

The important thing is to get the painting right and use the photos merely as influence. It would be so much easier if I had the perfect photo to work with, but life wasn't meant to be easy. Every
part of the sky now has to be painted wet on wet until completely finished, one go at it, either it'll work, or I'll have to trash the painting

I normally like to work out everything in advance & even go through the whole painting process/sequence in my mind before even dreaming of starting. However this time, I am working with too little information, only small bits of photos are being used & even then, they are of different times & have different colour ranges.

Even more difficult is to disregard the hue & chroma of the original photos because the colours are too intense/bright and the contrast too great. I wanted the resulting sky to feel as if it was slightly later on in the day than when I photographed it. So I have to rely on making things up as I go.

At this point I am relying on intuition to make decisions. Intuition is just learned experience to the level where the subconscious takes over, as in driving home as if on auto pilot.

Even so it's scary, you get one chance at getting it right, so you have to get yourself into a state of mind that is both totally in concentration and simultaneously also in a trance to paint. Good music helps, ambient music that allows you to drift away.

Here is a photo of my palette taken at the time I was at this stage. I use colour somewhat differently to some, for me finding pigments that intermix well with one another is of utmost importance. Also I like to have all the colours available when I'm working, it allows for more complex colour mixes simply because if it's easy to reach, then you are more likely to use it.

A this point the sky is pretty much completed & it's time to put on the ambient music to chill out whilst starting the next phase. The city lights made up of thousands of dots, each made of a base colour and then one or several highlights.

......many, many hours later

Finally when I think it's completed, a test hang in the studio to see if anything needs adjusting. If nothing needs to be changed the painting is left to dry, then varnished and framed in a hand finished dark wide frame.

Printmaking

2011-01-13T16:56:00.004+10:30

This week I took the first steps towards a long held desire to produce a suite of prints. I've been wanting to make a series of etchings for years, but never getting around to it, until now. First call was to Dianne Longley a wonderful artist and printmaking teacher that knows all there is to know about the process. I did etching at art school some 26 years ago and wanted a refresher course and equally important, access to facilities, including a press.

There's me thinking I'll be dipping my fingers into Nitric Acid like the bad old days, turps, bitumen & worse, when Dianne explained I should look into the Intaglio Photopolymer Printmaking process. At least this process gives you the same results without the toxic chemicals and is far less time consuming.

Luckily, Dianne had 2 short workshops on Intaglio Photopolymer Printmaking starting in the near future. I just completed both this week and I am very pleased with the initial results.

The photos here show what can be made in just one day. The first Intaglio Photopolymer Printmaking workshop was to create a Black & White print in a day. First, I did my drawing with a 2B pencil on double matt drafting film, then exposed it on the solar plate for 60 seconds. The drawing can be seen here face down on the plate about to have the UV light exposed to it.

Afterwards the plate is washed out in water leaving a surface that can hold etching ink. After it is dried, then post exposed to more UV light to harden the plate, it is inked up the same as any other etching plate and run through the etching press.

A small print, the end result of a day's work. Nothing brilliant & it has a few spots where a bit too much of the plate washed away and made it difficult to hold the dark blacks. As purely a first time test piece I quite happy with this result. Now comes the much harder and more complex work if I am to make something good enough to leave the studio.

Net Work, The Art Gallery of Ballarat until January 30

2011-01-06T17:08:00.006+10:30

Between Christmas and New Year, I finally made it to The Art Gallery of Ballarat to see the exhibition that I had work in. Not only was I unable to travel to Melbourne for my solo exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery in late November due to illness, I also was unable to make it to the opening of this exhibition on December 11.

Net Work: the TLF exhibition is an exhibition of work by 38 members of The Littlest Forum (TLF), an online forum for professional contemporary visual artists.

Curated by Amanda van Gils, Net Work showcases the diversity of artists who utilise the Internet as a vital tool in their artistic careers, if not directly in their artistic practice. The Internet is having a profound impact on artist's practice as well as providing new opportunities for artists to establish much needed connections.
The artists in this exhibition are connected through a need and willingness to communicate and interact with other artists, forming in the process an "artistic community" without geographical, social or economic boundaries.

Artists included in Net Work are:
Kim Anderson | Aliey Ball | Jan Berg | Kate Bergin | Sue Beyer | Louise Blyton | Dave Brayshaw | Claire Bridge | David Coles | Simon Collins | Jacqui Comer | Dagmar Cyrulla | Chris Delpratt | Andrew Ensor | Robert Fenton | Dianne Gall |Michelle Giacobello | Minka Gillian | Erika Gofton | Debbie Hill | Robert Hollingworth | Kez Hughes | Julie Keating | Siobhan Kelley | Glenn Locklee | Vito Manfredi | Deb Mostert | Ilona Nelson | Beth Norling | Steve Rosendale | Mark Stewart | Jim Thalassoudis | Merryn J. Trevathan | Joanne Turner | Amanda van Gils | Steve Warburton | Irene Wellm | Darian Zam

The Skipping Girl lures me to Melbourne

2010-09-18T10:54:00.005+09:30

Carolyn Crossley from Cowwarr Art Space, Victoria and Korean artist Aehee Park visited the studio this week, followed by dinner at "The Greek on Halifax". They were in Adelaide as part of OZ Asia Festival to set up Aehee's exhibition "Caring for Aehee Australia" at the Artspace gallery.

It was so good to see Carolyn again and catch up on what's happening at Cowwarr. The converation meandered to neon signs and it was then that Carolyn mentioned that the company that made Aehee's lightboxes for her exhibition recently restored the Skipping Girl neon sign. I've been wanting to paint it for years, even visiting the site to photograph it only to find it turned off.

The Skipping Girl is an iconic neon sign in Melbourne, first installed in 1936, then replaced with a more modern version in 1970. Rumour has it that the model for the Skipping Girl logo was the local milk bar owner’s daughter. "Little Audrey", the Skipping Girl sign was switched off in 1986 for 4 years and then later switched off again in 2001. After being heritage listed in 2007, with help from the "Friends of Audrey" and the Victorian branch of the National Trust Australia funds were raised to restore the sign. In 2009 the neon sign was finally turned on again.

Meanwhile, not knowing the sign had been restored, I had long given up hope of seeing this neon sign operational again. The next morning after Carolyn's visit I made contact with the owners of the sign and I'm in the process of arranging access to the roof to photograph it. I'll be in Melbourne in 10 days time, making the most of the switch on time in relation to sunset before daylight savings time kicks in.

My painting schedule is going to be thrown out, as I now hoping this sign would become a major painting to be included in my upcoming exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery, to open late November.

The last few months

2010-09-14T13:27:00.007+09:30

Before getting back to regular blogging, a brief update on the last few months.

SALA EXHIBITION; For the South Australian Living Artist's Festival, Dianne & I decided to show some of our new work in Adelaide. Neither of us have exhibited here in our home town in 4 years, so a 8 day exhibition in our recently renovated studio was organised. To title the venue we created "Cube Contemporary Art Projects", not as a permanent venue, just as a "pop-up" project.

Dianne's exhibition "Noir" allowed her to exhibit the recent development in her art locally, as none of this work has been seen here.

My exhibition "Useless Beauty" was a preview of about half of the paintings for my upcoming Melbourne exhibition with Charles Nodrum Gallery. As I said, I haven't shown my art here for 4 years & not for trying. The last 2 years asking my representing gallery "Hill Smith Fine Art" for a solo show, with Sam Hill Smith saying...."urhhh...errr..No".

Net result of previewing my art here was a nasty letter from Hill Smith Gallery, for both Dianne and myself. What a complete and utter fucking shit for brains dickhead!

Studio Renovations; In July, after a month of cleaning out the studio, I employed my nephew George to paint the gallery rooms of the studio a new colour (Shale , Porter's Paints) & a custom made salmon pink colour for the entrance wall.

Love Art 2, Limited Edition Print Release

2010-07-29T14:50:00.004+09:30

LOVE ART 2
Limited Edition Print
38x52cm image on 42x60cm paper
Signed and Numbered
Edition of 60

Printed on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper 308 gsm, using Archival Pigment inks.

Price AUD$220.00 + $10.00 Worldwide Postage

Love Art, Limited Edition Print Release

2010-04-06T21:49:00.006+09:30

LOVE ART
Limited Edition Print
38x48cm image on 42x60cm paper
Signed and Numbered
Edition of 60

Printed on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper using Archival Pigment inks.

Price AUD$220.00 + $10.00 Worldwide Postage

The original painting; Love Art, 2008, oil on linen, 122x152cm was purchased by the Art Gallery Of South Australia in 2008 from my solo exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne.

This photo shows the painting hanging in the Art Gallery of South Australia earlier this year.

Road Trip

2010-02-08T12:42:00.005+10:30

Last Sunday took a 900km road trip to Mildura to photograph the Riviera Motel sign again. I was outside the Riviera Motel in late October last year, sitting in my car taking a few shots with the telephoto lens pointing out the window. It was a case of laziness that made me look like some private eye from a sordid film noir movie.

The manager walks up to the car..."who you looking for, what you doin' here?". "Just taking a few shots of your sign" was my reply.....She stared at me..."I'm an artist", I added. Her demeaner suddenly changed, it appeared I had stumbled into a sordid plot after all. A woman was in hiding there, a jealous crazed man after her, strange men said to be looking for her, threats, paranoia....I had been spotted by guests on the lookout for her, I was a suspect.

Back there on Sunday, driving by every hour to see how the sun falls on the sign, my presence spotted by someone in the squalid residence across the road. Late in the day, I'm back, the manager comes out "you must really like my sign, I remember you from last year, the neighbours tell me...there's a man takin' photos". I'm invited back in 7 weeks, the sign is being restored to it's former glory. I tell her "I like it the way it is".

David Lynch would love this place.

Back in the heart of Mildura is the The Art Vault, a renovated bank turned art gallery, artist's residences, studios, printmaking studios etc (yes, the art is stored in the vaults). It's the brain child of Julie Chambers, who has done a magnificent job in making a brilliant venue and attracting so many major artists to come and work there.

Meanwhile, I took this photo on the main street in Mildura. If the "Tidy Towns Committee" were more visually literate and less interested in cigarette butts, then visually exciting vistas like this would move Mildura closer to a win.

The road home, 400km mostly in the dark and all the time hoping I wouldn't have to dodge a roo.

Restart of The Small Paintings Project

2010-02-04T17:00:00.008+10:30

Study for The Last Day of Summer, 2010
Oil on linen panel, 14.6 x 14.6cm (5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches)

I have recently restarted The Small Paintings Project. A blog where I will be posting a new small painting every week which can be purchased online. These small paintings are studies and explorations of subject matter & ideas that may lead towards larger studio paintings. Priced at AUD$450 each, these original oil paintings are affordable to collectors compared to my canvases which start at $2,500 (for 1 ft sq painting) and up to $36,000 for a very large painting.

This small painting is a study for a larger painting titled The Last Day of Summer. It's a detail of the roof of the beach kiosk at Semaphore Beach. A place I've been a thousand times before, but on this day it suddenly appeared to me as an ideal subject for a painting. I was walking back from the Semaphore Palais after having dinner with Dianne. Salt & Pepper squid, A Cooper's Pale Ale, a warm night and foreboding clouds at sunset. Everything was just right and I noticed something I have always ignored before, the kiosk.

I'm planning 2 versions of this painting. A 1ft square one which will be a similar composition to this, to be exhibited in Perth and a major painting that captures most of the building, the trees, path to the beach showing the sky meeting the sea. The major painting will be for my exhibition in November at Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

Back to work

2010-01-27T16:48:00.008+10:30

I am finally back to painting after more than 2 months off. Before starting, the first thing I had to arrange was air-conditioning ( see photo ). The last 2 years each had a 16 day long heatwave above 39C which made it impossible to work. I don't need any more disruptions, I have a lot I want to accomplish this year and I've been planning it for months. What else was there to do whilst recuperating? Daytime TV was slowly driving me insane, so I went over & over the whole year, mapping it out.

I have a solo exhibition in Melbourne with Charles Nodrum Gallery in November, several group exhibitions throughout the year and one major project, which I'll won't memtion yet. There are other new things I want to try out this year and I won't jinx them by talking about them either, well not yet anyway.

It's all mapped out in detail, but I wont itemise it here because anything can go wrong (as it recently did for me) and I know if I did, any changes to it will always find someone who'll point out "what about...........?"

Meanwhile, one very small painting has already been painted this year and I think it's a good start.....there it is on my desk, or below in detail.

Painting, it's like riding a bicycle, you take off where you left off, without losing anything.

Late Arrival, 2010
Oil on linen panel, 14.6 x 14.6cm (5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches)

The sun nearly set for the last time

2009-12-11T16:59:00.002+10:30

Two weeks ago, at this very time I was on the operating table having major surgery. I was in excruciating pain with an obstructed bowel, the x-rays were not good news, a large tumor which was believed to be almost certainly cancerous had completely obstructed my bowel.

3 1/2 hours of surgery later, I was kept unconscious for another 24 hours and then spent 4 days in the Critical Care Unit before being taken into my private room for another 8 days. As I awoke, I saw Dianne sitting at my side smiling at me. I was feeling no pain (thanks to Mr Morphine), and I knew I would be OK.

In the Critical Care Unit I had little idea of the passing of time, having not seen any daylight for days. From there my bed was wheeled into a large private room and placed facing a wall of windows in front of me and to my side.

I was left there alone for what seemed like hours, unable to move, tubes sticking out of me, facing a sky full of soft clouds slowly passing by in silence. I stared mesmerised at every detail of the clouds, as they moved , as they slowly changed shaped and I thought to myself.....if only they knew the irony of how they placed me before the sky?

Day 5, my doctor arrived, sat next to me and said "would you like to hear some good news?" Sure, I said, thinking good news meant they got all the cancer out? He said "You don't have cancer, the pathology tests came back....there is no cancer!....you have had a large tumour growing in you for probably years until it blocked your bowel, but it wasn't cancerous.....there was a 1% chance of this outcome."

I got out of hospital 2 days ago, I'm sore as can be, I have a scar from below my belt line to nearly the height of my heart and I've been told not to work for 4-6 weeks.

But work for me is to see the sun set .......and I've already seen it's beauty.

Exhibition at Beaver Galleries, Canberra

2009-10-14T14:47:00.002+10:30

The Burning Sky, 2009, oil on linen, 122 x 152 cm

I have 6 paintings in an exhibition in Canberra at Beaver Galleries opening on Thursday the 15 October and running until 3rd November. Also exhibiting with me is my partner Dianne Gall with her new "Film Noir" inspired paintings.

Little Pictures, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, until Oct 22

2009-10-05T22:42:00.003+10:30

The approaching storm, 2008, oil on cradled panel, 15 x 45 cm

I have 3 small oil paintings in a group exhibition titled Little Pictures at Charles Nodrum Gallery. The exhibition is open until October 22 and if you are in Melbourne, check it out.

Squared: Greenhill Galleries, Perth

2009-06-25T16:20:00.005+09:30

Moonrise road, 2009, oil on linen, 30 x 30 cm

Opening tomorrow in Perth is Squared at Greenhill Galleries June 26 - July 11. Squared is an annual exhibition where gallery artists are invited to produce one foot square paintings. It's a very popular exhibition amongst the local collectors with many well known artists participating such as Jason Benjamin, Peter Boggs, David Larwill, Jasper Knight & Robert Juniper.

This year I am only including 1 painting in Squared, Moonrise road, which is a study for a larger work. Less is more & this painting is one that I'm quite happy with.

Exhibition at Greenhill Galleries, Perth

2009-05-27T15:20:00.007+09:30

Almost Gone, 2009, , oil on linen, 111 x 137 cm

This painting and 11 others are on exhibition in Perth at Greenhill Galleries. The exhibitions open on Friday, 29th of May and runs until June 13.

Oh, and yes, the painting "Almost Gone" has long ago been completed, apologies if anyone was waiting to see how it turned out? I have been so preoccupied, I can't believe it's so long since I last posted on my blog. To make up for it, here's a new painting ( also in Perth ).

Before Sunrise, 2009, oil on linen, 40.5 x 45.5cm

Now all I have to do is get my "Small Paintings Project" kick-started again....there should be a new painting up within the week.

Almost Gone

2009-04-04T17:20:00.013+10:30

Almost Gone, (under painting), oil on linen, 111 x 137 cm

This painting is beginning to take shape, the colours & tones are crudely blocked in to not only get rid of the white of the canvas, but to also give me an approximate ground to work the final layers of paint.

Almost gone, the last remnant of the sun which has already set. The marking of time, another day gone leaving a momentary glimpse of beauty before darkness descends. It's a magical time of heightened colour that changes so fast that I'm drawn to. An obsession in capturing this time of day, the change from day to night, but it's not an obsession about capturing sunsets just for their beauty and nothing else.

Beauty with an edge is the aim.

As an artist working with and using imagery that can be seen as beautiful, I keep myself from slipping into mere beauty by the haunting words of Wagner. In one of the best artistic put downs ever Wagner dismissed the composer Daniel Auber's music as: "The work of a barber who lathers but forgets to shave".

Daniel Auber was hugely successful in his time, with 50 operas to his name, he became wildly rich, but little of his music has survived into this century....mainly because so much of it was light, fluffy, beauty for the sake of beauty and for success.

"The work of a barber who lathers but forgets to shave".

It should haunt ever artist.......I should write it on a note, pin it on top of my easel and have it remind me never forget to have an edge! To use beauty and not be seduced by it, nor to use beauty as the only means to seduce the viewer of the painting.

Another day passes through you

2009-04-03T16:15:00.004+10:30

Almost Gone, (just started), oil on linen, 111 x 137 cm

I titled a recent painting "Another day passes through you" from a line in a Dave Graney song called "You wanna be there but you don't wanna travel" and was promptly struck low by a nasty virus. Watching daytime TV, bored out of my mind, time wasted, days passing through me whilst going nowhere fast. I had time to reflect on that choice title for a painting and whether this new one "Almost Gone" will jinx me in some way?

Almost gone, just started & more photos to come.

Bushfire Appeal Art Auction at Brunswick Street Gallery

2009-03-02T14:12:00.004+10:30

Into darkness, 2007, oil on linen, 30.5 x 30.5 cm

I have donated the above painting to the Bushfire Appeal Art Auction.

Brunswick Street Gallery is holding a charity art auction on Tuesday 3 March at 6pm to raise money for the victims of the Victorian bushfires. All proceeds will go to the Red Cross.

There are 100 works in this auction, so come and grab some great art and help out people who suffered from the bushfires at the same time.

24 paintings a year

2009-01-24T17:13:00.007+10:30

I've never been a prolific artist, rarely having painted more than 30 oils in a year, but lately I have been thinking of restricting the amount of art I release to only 24 paintings a year. I think that's about the right amount of paintings to give the right balance of quantity of work with the time needed to maintain quality.

Over the last few years I've been taking longer to make each painting, everything from searching for images to the painting of more complex & detailed paintings. For some time now I've been wanting to paint less and concentrate on painting better works. To exhibit less often, with less work, but make the paintings major works.

24 paintings, that's all that I'll release each year.

I'll also continue with my Small Paintings Project, as it's a valuable way of making studies for major paintings and also a way people can acquire something affordable. I also want to produce a couple prints each year in small editions and I think that's enough art for me to make in any year.

Some artists are prolific, I know of one who produces 400 paintings a year and is still considered "collectable". I choose to go the other way, a notion that less is more. Artists who I admire for their controlled release of art are John Brack, Jeffrey Smart and more recently Rick Amor who has gone from exhibiting 30 paintings to a dozen or less per exhibition. These artists, over time have developed formidable reputations without flooding the market with thousands of paintings. During their lifetime, these artists, painting modest amounts of work each year end up creating hundreds of great paintings....and that's enough!

Getting the right message across

2009-01-21T14:07:00.004+10:30

I came across this sign on the weekend as I was speeding into nowhere like an oblivion seeker desperately searching for something new to paint. I had to pull over and take a photo of this sign and after driving off it took some kilometres before I stopped laughing at how ludicrous the sign appears on face value. On a barren road in the middle of nowhere who is keeping a lookout to see if you're eating your banana?

I still had over 200 kms to go of empty road driving and my self amusement turned to thinking about the importance of getting the right message across. I was pushing myself to find new things to paint, but what exactly? I would only know when I see it and then I'd have to mull over it for ages to see if it really fits in with what I want to paint and the body of work in progress.

You come across some weird things sometimes and I do have an eye for the quirky, but you can't just paint something because it's odd enough to catch your eye? See photo below....

So, I keep searching for the undefinable new subject matter to be present under the sky that'll make something worthy of being painted. This year I am planning to release only 25 oil paintings from the thousands of photos taken. The distillation process is all important to get not only the right images, but for them to also be a consistent body of work. That takes a lot of time looking, shooting and reviewing before a painting is decided on.

In the biography on Edward Hopper by Gail Levin, Hopper who was notoriously slow to decide what to paint, would take many month long painting trips into Mexico and come back with maybe one watercolour. I'm not that slow, but I do take my time and meanwhile, the journey to finding the 25 paintings is as rewarding as the finished paintings.

The right time at the right place

2009-01-17T17:01:00.010+10:30

Lately I've been taking photos of stopped clocks and I'm yet to decide whether to to do a small series of paintings where the wrong time is juxtaposed against the evening sky? There is something about a painting of a clock is always being frozen at a set time, just as a painting of the evening sky shows the clouds, the quickly changing colours and light frozen in a moment in time.

But the clock is broken or unplugged, mounted above a business that has long ago moved on, or gone bust. The clock is showing a time that cannot be, a sign of things past and no longer there. For some reason I noticed a few these clocks during the last few weeks and wondered if a beautiful late evening sky, a captured moment in time above the wrong time would be the making of interesting paintings?

I've started the process of taking snapshots of the clocks for reference, now all I have to do is be be there at the right time to also get the right sky.

Chasing the sky

2009-01-15T10:42:00.011+10:30

The Opal Sky, 2008, oil on linen, 135 x 135 cm

These last few weeks have seen some of the most frustrating photographic expeditions for new images to paint. The craziest one of many was a 1,200 km day trip into Victoria and down along the south coast back to Adelaide. All along the sky was perfect, but I suspected it was too good to be true, the sky can break your heart and often does.

The plan was simple enough, leave early, drive to Keith, down to Naracoorte for breakfast, on to Penola (where Dianne couldn't resist antique shopping). Then over the border to Casterton then Hamilton to see the regional gallery and have lunch. From there we went down to the coast, Portland and across to Mount Gambier.

Along the way I was hoping to find something that I could use, even though the time of day wasn't right, but nothing caught my eye. At Mount Gambier I had a site I wanted to photograph, the Odeon Star theatre and giant bowling pin. The whole trip was planned to take photos at Mount Gambier, Robe and anything else stumbled upon.

(The Odeon star sign & bowling pin showing how badly lit it was)

The Odeon Star theatre was badly lit from the setting sun, falling just behind the building and not on the neon sign, nor bowling pin. The problem I discovered was we were there in Summer and it needed to be a Winter shoot. The road the theatre is on runs East/West and in Summer the sun sets Southwest, just behind the facade of the building. In Winter the sun will set slightly Northwest lighting the building with perfect raking light.

I just went through my archives and found a photo I took in August 2000 which has the light raking across the front of the building. I was in Mt Gambier for an exhibition my paintings were in called Rural and Urbane at their Regional Gallery, The Riddoch Art Gallery

This trip I wanted to take a much later photo with the neon on. I rang the Bowling alley the day before I left and they said the neon sign hasn't been connected in years. But there is an exact copy of the Odeon Star neon sign at Semaphore Beach, Adelaide which works and I was going to use the Mt Gambier location and then use the working neon sign to make the painting.

Anyway, off we sped to Robe to photograph the Obelisk with just over an hour of sunlight and about 100kms to travel. All the time the sky was looking great, but the closer we got to Robe, the more it changed for the worse. I nearly diverted to Beachport to guarantee a half decent shot of the sky over cliffs/water, instead going for broke we made it Robe with just 12 minutes before sunset.

It was to no avail as the sun fell behind a low bank of clouds turning the sky colourless and the Obelisk looking dead.
This is what the Obelisk looks like (photo not taken by me)

After that all that was left was to have dinner and drive the 336kms home. We opted to skip dinner in Robe thinking we should be able to pick something up along the way, we were wrong. The next 220 km were the most barren you could imagine, not a single thing open in the few towns we passed, nor any traffic. I would take note of the time taken between seeing an oncoming car and it was on average about 20 minutes. Being dark, no traffic it was just a matter of time before a huge kangaroo leapt out in front of us. I braked and I still don't know how I missed it, a few inches at most?

Out in the middle of nowhere, over a hundred kilometres from anything open, nearly half an hour from when the next car passed, we were so lucky not to be written off by a kangaroo. Back in Adelaide after midnight, hungry, 16 hours on the road, 1,200 km travelled, not a single useable photo taken, but we had a great time.

Exhibition in Perth

2008-12-09T16:21:00.005+10:30

Into the night 2, 2008, oil on linen, 61x71cm

The painting above is in the Greenhill Galleries Christmas Exhibition.
If you are in Perth and would like to see the exhibition the dates are December 10 – December 24, 2008.

Meanwhile I am in the slow process of formulation what I'm going to do for my next solo exhibition which is also happens to be in Perth. The exhibition opens on 29th of May 2009 at Greenhill Galleries and for the last month and a half I have been taking photos as well as going through thousands of old photos to see if I've missed something that can be used?

It takes time for an exhibition to start to gel and you cannot force it to happen. The ball starts rolling after I have a few images to work with and then the rest fall into place. As you start you never quite know how the whole show will look and where new ideas for paintings will take you. Trusting in your ability to pull the whole show together is important, as is not worrying if the early paintings will be unified with the later works?

As I said, the exhibitions fall into place in an organic way, rather than following a pre-prescribed script determined well in advance.

One thing that has been helpful this time is looking at a whole range of other artists work and collecting a file of images to refer to. Simple things like an image with a particular green in it to remind me that if it is possible to try to use that in one of the paintings. There are paintings of skies from the history of art and also there are artists who I admire that have no visual link to my work.

The process I go through is exhaustive to get a body of work that is unified in concept, but isn't repetitive. I am not a lazy artist, the type who comes up with one idea for an exhibition and then makes 20 slight variations for it.

Surrealist painter James Gleeson dies

2008-10-21T10:10:00.008+10:30

Whilst watching the evening news last night I was saddened to hear that the great Australian Surrealist painter James Gleeson has died at the age of 92. I have always been a huge fan of his art and over the decades I've seen many exhibitions of his incredible paintings. Even into his nineties, Gleeson's inventiveness of imagery, the skill and mastery of his paint handling, let alone the sheer power of his work would put many a young painter to shame.

Just last month I had the honour of sharing Charles Nodrum's gallery with James Gleeson as our solo exhibitions met in the stairwell of the gallery. I was thrilled to be exhibiting at the same time as James Gleeson, as it allowed me another opportunity to be mesmerised by his paintings. It was a great show, huge paintings painted with the skill of a master and the vigour of a young man.

Sadly it turned out to be James Gleeson's last exhibition in what must be one of the longest art careers. A career which saw him first exhibit his Surrealist paintings 70 years ago.

Artists Resale Royalty Scheme announced to start July 1, 2009

2008-10-04T17:19:00.013+09:30

The artist's hand against the sky, 2008, oil on linen, 35.5 x 40.5cm.

Last night on the evening news it was announced that visual artists will receive a 5% royalty payment every time their work is resold under a scheme introduced by the Federal Government. The 5% royalty will apply to works over $1,000 resold after July 1, 2009 and will last for the lifetime of the artists and 70 years after their death.

Click here for more info

It sounds like great news and artists seem to think it'll be good for them, but predominately the already successful artists will directly benefit from this in the short term. Indigenous artists will also benefit, as so much of their work is bought cheaply by art dealers to be resold soon after for huge mark ups. Also the families & heirs to artist's estates will benefit long after the artist is no longer around to make any new work.

It's more paperwork for galleries and auction houses and the financial brunt of this new fee will be added to the costs a collector incurs in selling art that they own. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be the heir to Brett Whiteley's, or John Olsen's, or Jeffrey Smart's estate? Meanwhile if I see a cheque in the next 5 years, I'll probably faint. My hand, like most artists is out, ready to receive the last light of the day.

Exquisite Palette Exhibition at St Luke Artist Colourmen

2008-10-03T10:32:00.005+09:30

The Exquisite Palette Exhibition is on again at St. Luke Artist Colourmen 32 Smith St Collingwood, Melbourne (3rd October to 8th November). After the success of last year's exhibition, it's grown this year to include the work of 120 artists. If you are in Melbourne, drop in and see it, it's well worth the visit.

New music to paint to.

2008-09-28T23:23:00.009+09:30

The road home, 2008, oil on linen, 61x71cm

Coming back from Melbourne and finding a studio empty of paintings, the first thing I like to do is a thorough cleanup to remove the past to start fresh on the next exhibition ( Perth 2009 ). Down come the photographs as my painting room is made spotless. The walls of the display room have the nail holes filled, painted and made pristine awaiting the first new painting. The office likewise and the canvas stretching room tidied as I start the making of 7 new canvases.

This process helps me to clean my mind of the past body of work and also set the studio up to be able to work for the next 8 months without drowning in piles of the past. One of the most important tasks is to find new music to paint to. For example much of the last exhibition was painted with the music of Pan American playing in the background, especially the CD Quiet City.

Quiet City CD comes with a DVD and this mesmerisingly beautiful track "Lights of Little Towns" has influenced my work, particularly the nocturnes, let alone being the perfect music to paint to. Do yourself a favour, as Molly Meldrum used to say and click to watch the video clip.

Pan-American - Lights of Little Towns

Whole exhibitions have been painted to the music of Dave Graney in the background, let alone to Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and when I hear some old CD's, I remember how I felt painting at the time. Here's some Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, a short song that definitely worth the listen to

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Careless Love

Now is the time for some new music, I have been doing a lot of research and found some really amazing and beautiful music. One problem, not a single music shop in Adelaide ( and I rang them all ) had a single CD by any of the artists I was after. Nothing by Marconi Union, nothing by Max Richter, nothing by Stars of the Lid, nothing by The Dead Texan and nothing by Eluvium nor Ulrich Schnauss.

It shits me to tears, so much beautiful music out there and I can't get my hands on it readily. Serves me right for liking obscure stuff instead of top 40 fluff. Oh well, it looks like more buying of CD's via the internet. Meanwhile, I can still see some clips via Youtube until they arrive and I recommend that you take the time to watch the videos below, it'll be the music I'll paint to for the next year ( as soon as I get my hands on it ).

Marconi Union - Sleepless

Max Richter - From the Rue Vilin

Stars of the Lid - Driving Home

The dead Texan - the six million dollar sandwich

Eluvium - Genius and the thieves

Into the Night exhibition catalogue available for sale

2008-09-25T17:22:00.006+09:30

Into the Night, the exhibition catalogue is now available for sale via this blog for a nominal price of AUD$10.00 including postage & handling.

The 24 page catalogue measures 20x25cm and has 14 of the 23 paintings reproduced from the exhibition, as well as a wonderful essay by Professor Ted Snell in it.

If you are in Melbourne and able to visit the exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery, then you may pick up a free copy there. Into the night exhibition runs until October 11.

To buy a signed copy of the catalogue, click the "Buy Now" button below.

Into the Night, Jim Thalassoudis exhibition catalogue
Price AUD$10.00 includes worldwide postage & handling.

"Into the Night" Solo exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery

2008-09-22T16:14:00.008+09:30

My exhibition "Into the night" at Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne opened last Wednesday night (continues until October 11), and it was such a relief to see it looking so good in the gallery. You never quite know how it'll all hang together in another space, or whether it'll work as a show. The exhibition comprises of 23 paintings, of which 13 are large canvases and 10 small paintings on cradled birch panels. They were hung in 2 large rooms, one painted a mid grey and the other white, creating the feeling of day & night. Splitting the paintings into either the dark or light room was a risk, but I left it to Charles and Rebecca to hang it. They know the gallery best and when I saw how they hung it, I didn't want to change a thing.

Dianne and I had a great time in Melbourne, spending 6 absolutely fantastic days where everything went so smoothly. There were so many highlights it's hard to pick one, other than of course catching up with friends during the opening night and the general success of the exhibition. Opening during a week in which world financial markets melted down saw many Melbourne galleries trading sluggishly. It felt like a minor miracle to sell primarily the larger paintings in the exhibition.

The night before leaving Adelaide I had arranged to meet a collector in the gallery early in the afternoon and I slept in, losing an hour and a half. The 750 km trip to get to Melbourne became a mad rush and after driving for an hour we came across 2 signs saying " Highway closed" & "detour ->" ? No explanation as to why we were now travelling completely the wrong direction and going to be late, could it have been an elaborate joke? For over 50km we drove knowing nothing until seeing another small sign "detour" and after losing 100km we managed to get back to the highway, where a lonely police officer was standing. He told us a fatal crash involving trucks and car had closed the highway and I couldn't see how I could make up the time. Since all the Highway Police were probably at the accident, I floored it hoping to avoid a speeding ticket. 6 hours later we arrive at the gallery 10 minutes after the collector and without a speeding ticket. He bought two paintings, hopped into the waiting cab and flew back to Sydney....brilliant!

Other highlights....being taken to lunch by Rick Amor and talking about the life of being a painter. We met at the Australian Print Workshop before lunch, where Rick was working on a print and so was coincidentally another friend of mine Georgia Thorp. One of the things I wanted to do whilst in Melbourne was look into the possibility of producing some Etchings or Lithos, working with a master printer. Martin King, the master printer rang me today and we talked briefly about some options and how to go towards the next stage of starting the process.

Another highlight of the trip was going to Geelong and being taken around the Geelong Gallery by the director Geoffrey Edwards. Geoffrey is so enthusiastic about the collection and has the energy to somehow rehang the collection each year whilst also coordinating up to 21 temporary exhibitions a year. I've only driven through Geelong a few times before, but this time I took the time to scout for possible imagery for paintings. It definitely has the potential for the making of some paintings, so each trip to Melbourne from now on, I'll also visit Geelong at dusk.

Each day was filled with seeing galleries interspersed with breakfast, lunch of dinner with friends. An artist's brunch at The Botanical cafe was so wonderful for catching up with old and new friends.

A dear friend of mine and Dianne's, Warner flew from Sydney to see the exhibition and catch up with us. After meeting at my show, the group of us which included Dianne, Warner, Brad (a Melbourne based architect) and his partner Simon visited the Art Deco exhibition at The National Gallery of Victoria. From there we later went to L'OUSTAL restaurant in Albert Park for the best meal, wine and company I've ever had. Stumbling out of the restaurant well after midnight after polishing off many a bottle of Champagne, fine wine and desert wine, let alone the many courses of absolutely perfect food, there was nothing much else left to do in Melbourne.

The next morning, after checking out of the hotel we found ourselves back in Albert Park, sitting in the warm sunshine of an outdoor cafe having a late breakfast. A spot of shopping in the Avenue Bookshop and then in the car for the 8 hour drive home, this time well within the speed limit.

Love Art purchased by the Art Gallery Of South Australia

2008-09-04T11:17:00.008+09:30

Love Art, 2008, oil on linen, 122x152.5cm

Yesterday afternoon I was notified that the Art Gallery of South Australia is purchasing my painting "Love Art" for their collection. The senior curator of Australian Art from the Art Gallery of South Australia visited my studio over the weekend to preview my exhibition before it's sent to Melbourne and indicated an interest in in purchasing 1 of 3 possible works. I have to thank Charles Nodrum to teeing this up, for ringing the curator and suggesting that now is the right time to purchase another painting of mine.

It's been a long time between drinks, the last time the Art Gallery of South Australia purchased a painting of mine was about 17 years ago. I was heartened by Tracey (the senior curator of Australian Art), acknowledging the development in my work, the persistence of my art practice and continued exhibiting.

"Into the night" at Charles Nodrum Gallery is the 36th solo exhibition and my mind is already racing ahead towards the next one, tentatively titled "Last light". Meanwhile the paintings are now wrapped and about to be picked up by the art couriers in the next few hours. The large hanging room in my studio that has swelled over the last 9 months as each new painting finished is hung, now looks desolate.

The studio "display rooms" are massive, giving me the luxury of being able to hang the largest of exhibitions to be viewed and mulled over in a "gallery" setting before being sent off. All of this is separate from painting room. There is approximately 60 linear metres of 12 ft high walls with gallery lights and also a couple of large walls in the office/lounge room.

It's going to take a long time before the studio begins to resemble anything like this again.

Painting into the night: The night owls

2008-08-28T11:43:00.011+09:30

Distant Lights: Days End, 2008, oil on linen, 137x152.5cm

I have always been a night owl, painting long into the night, but these last few years it's getting harder to do the real late nights. I just don't have the energy to do more than a few long nights in a row, even though some of the best painting usually occurs give or take midnight.

The painting above, Distant Lights: Days End, originated in a peculiar way from a late night painting session. Working late into the night, I often take breaks and go for a drive to clear my head, hoping for a second wind to allow me another painting session before bed. On this day, at midnight, I kept driving into the Adelaide hills, winding around and around trying to get lost in the eerie empty blackness of the night. After an hour of this, with Dianne getting rather sleepy we decided to make our way back only to see a huge owl glide, as if in slow motion in front of us. The owl glowing from the car lights in the pitch black made it's way slowly in front of us before disappearing into the forest.

Well, this had the effect of waking us up and a few minutes later we got a view of the distant city lights. I knew in that second I wanted to paint this view, a view I had seen hundreds of times before, but this time it looked new and the spattering of clouds made it just right. Of course I didn't have my camera & tripod with me, so I had to drive all the way back to the studio and then back up to the hills.

It was after 2am when I finally began photographing the clouds lit by the glow of the distant city lights. The clouds that pass whilst the city sleeps below.

Going Home, Quiet City.

2008-08-18T11:49:00.007+09:30

Going Home, 2008, oil on linen, 91x106cm

I'm on the home stretch to completing my exhibition, exhausted beyond belief and painting around the clock. Most of this last week was spent on finalising the catalogue ready for printing. Rebecca, from Charles Nodrum Gallery is a whizz and an angel for not only being brilliant at doing all the layout for the catalogue, but also putting up with my last minute dropping off of images. After many versions and a little bit of cost cutting the catalogue is now 24 pages in size, down from 28 pages and I'm very happy with the overall look of it. It should be back from the printers during the first few days of September and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

My paintings are a nightmare to photograph, the camera has trouble picking up the subtlety of colour shifts. The amount of re-photographing, tweaking on Photoshop takes forever. They always look better in the flesh, even this one, "Going Home" is fairly accurate and yet certain elements are hard to see such as the subtle light on the road.

"Going Home" is one of those minor miracles, a painting that falls right into place, feeling effortless to paint, unaware of the absolute focus and concentration needed to complete it until you collapse exhausted at the end. I still don't know how I did it?
It was painted in one long session, wet on wet technique (meaning all the oil paint was still wet at completion), on a linen canvas with a blank terracotta coloured ground prepared earlier.

A marathon session, what can turn out to be the most beautiful pain of being an artist, the tension, the concentration, never knowing if it'll work?, somehow miraculously it does, collapse shivering, aching in pain into bed at 4am, too tired to sleep and wanting to be sick, yet thrilled! Not recommended for the fainthearted.

What got me through it was strong coffee and great music, "Quiet City" by Pan American on repeat on the CD player. The CD comes with a DVD, blurred images in slow motion, the last track "Lights of Little Towns", is ambient perfection, the video is of a slow motion drive out of a small town at night, blurry, streetlights and a line of cars are the just visible as the last light in the landscape fades into black.

I could only find "skylight" (also on Quiet City), by Pan American on Youtube. This video isn't from Pan American (Mark Nelson), but it does give you an idea of what the music is like. Ambient and perfect to paint nocturnes to.

Rubik and Squared

2008-07-15T13:13:00.008+09:30

Study for after the storm, oil on linen, 30 x 30 cm. Exhibited in Squared

I have my painting "Love Art" currently on exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery in a show called "RUBIK". This is the first time I can remember that Charles has all 54 artists on show, one work a piece. Published with it is a 56 page catalogue and it's a great time to go see the newly renovated gallery with an overview of the artists it represents. In this mixed bag are some of Australia's great artists such as James Gleeson and internationally Paula Rego. Check it out if you are in Melbourne for the Melbourne Art Fair July 30 - August 3

Opening soon in Perth is Squared at Greenhill Galleries July 25 - August 10. Squared is an annual exhibition where gallery artists are invite to produce a couple of one foot square paintings. It's a very popular exhibition amongst the local collectors and it's also for a good cause. Greenhill Galleries donates 10% of all sales at Squared to Redkite , an Australian charity supporting children, young people and their families through cancer.
I have 2 new oil paintings in Squared, Study for after the storm ( photo above ) and Study for Moonrise ( that you'll have to go to Perth to see )
Opening July 25, 6-8pm for those would like to attend

Artlink ; On Sunsets by Ted Snell

2008-07-05T11:55:00.006+09:30

The current issue of Artlink Magazine, Vol 28, No 2 has an article by Professor Ted Snell, "On Sunsets" which features my art. The whole issue of the magazine is on beauty, a somewhat rare topic in art magazines nowadays.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my "Leaving No.2" painting reproduced so large, taking up the whole page and even more to see that Ted Snell mentioned this blog in the article. I rang Ted to thank him for his kind words in the article and also took the opportunity to ask him if he was interested in writing my catalogue essay, to which he eagerly agreed. Well that made my day to have one of Australia's finest art reviewers and all round knowledgeable art aficionado's writing a few thousand words on my paintings.

Ted Snell is Professor of Contemporary Art, and Dean of Art at the John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology. He is currently art reviewer for The Australian in Western Australia and Chair of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council.
Last month Ted Snell was honoured with a member of the Order of Australia on the Queen's Birthday List. Ted has been recognised for service to the visual arts, as an academic, artist, commentator and administrator, to professional organisations and as a mentor of young artists.

Love Art : The making of a painting, Part 2

2008-06-07T15:09:00.013+09:30

Love Art, 2008, oil on linen, 122x152.5cm

Love Art : The making of a painting, Part 2. The painting.

I am using a medium/course weaved linen canvas ( 4x5ft )... actually one that I put a dark ochre ground on for another painting, but ended up grabbing it for this painting. So, the ochre colour isn't really useful, but it doesn't matter, I just wanted to start it straight away.

First photo, the image drawn onto the canvas.
I normally draw the image loosely with oil paint, but this one being so complicated and detailed this sign was drawn from a gridded photo and the neon text was drawn to scale and then traced onto the canvas. The canvas isn't smooth and the detail complex. To have drawn the neon text onto the canvas with all the corrections needed would've left a mess. Better to work it out on paper to scale and trace clear fine lines to work with.

I have worked out a 9 stage process to getting this painting completed;
1. Draw image on canvas
2. Underpainting ; the building facade, poles holding the sign
3. Underpainting ; the neon prodtruding into the sky
4. Underpainting ; the sky
5. Underpainting ; the sign
6. Final painting ; the sky ( without the clouds )
7. Final painting ; the clouds blended into the sky
8. Final painting ; the sign
9. Final painting ; the building facade, poles holding the sign

Stage 2 & 3, Underpainting the building facade, poles holding the sign and the neon prodtruding into the sky.

Stage 4 Underpainting the sky;
The sky being more malleable than neon text is drawn onto the canvas loosely with oil paint in a rough composition.

This is just the underpainting to block in the colours & tones before the final painting layer. Also the composition of the sky is roughly layed out and will probably change once I can see it all.

The underpainting of the sky is now complete and I can already see a few things that need changing for the final layer.

Stage 5 Underpainting the sign.

and after many hours..

and after many more hours the underpainting is finished.

The next stage is to take the painting into my viewing room and spend a little time pondering the changes needed to complete the work.

The sky will go through some major changes....making it less dramatic...it doesn't need to be so powerful.
The sky will me slightly darker at top and lighter at the bottom.
The angle of the clouds will be lessened
The sky will be painted softer than in the underpainting

Stage 6&7 The final painting ; the sky & clouds

Stage 8 the final painting of the neon sign;
I have reworked the neon & the sign ( top half only so far ) made the "T" end of the neon smaller and the "L" end of the neon thicker. Also adjusted the sign for the reflected neon light on to it.

The painting is now completed and in the process I weaked the painting just a little more...the perspective of the 3 diagonals that fall downhill on the wall have been fixed.

All that's left to do is clean the palette and brushes

....and finally, the Love Art painting is being used to for a full page ad in Australian Art Collector magazine, Spring issue 2008

Love Art : The making of a painting, Part 1

2008-06-06T12:38:00.016+09:30

Love Art, 2008, oil on linen, 122x152.5cm

Artists are either secretive or very open about how their art is created, the origins, the source material and the process of creation. I prefer to be open about how my work is created, believing that showing how it is made doesn't demystify and weaken the painting. Hopefully, it creates greater interest and understanding? I am one of those people who always watches the "extras" on a DVD of a movie to find out how it was made and often rewatching it with the director's voice over. So in a way, this is the "extras" to this painting with the "director's" voice over.

Love Art : The making of a painting, Part 1; The origins of the image.

The title of this painting is Love Art, a heart shaped sign with neon lights against the sky. It advertises a porn shop about a mile from the studio on the main road to Port Adelaide and for some years I've thought it'll make a good painting. The earliest photos were taken nearly 7 years ago on (the photo below was taken on August 11, 2001), so it's been sitting in the back of my mind for a very long time.

The problem was how to make something of what can look quite ordinary by day? The setting of the sign in the street isn't particulary interesting so it quickly became apparent that I had to take the sign and leave the rest.

I visited the site over a period of months taking photos at different times of day and night trying to find the exact position where the sign looked great against the sky. But it never did because the sign isn't positioned to get the evening light on it, as well as the evening sky.

Great daylight shot showing the form of the sign, but useless because the neon is lost, let alone the boring blue sky.

Composition not right and the painting isn't supposed to hint about porn/religion.

The sky is starting to look interesting, but the sign is silhouetted losing the colour of it and the composition is not right?

Great fiery sky, but too late in the day ...the sign is lost.

To get what I wanted in this painting I had to take a shot of the sign earlier in the evening because nearing sunset, the sign is cast in shadow by nearby buildings and due to the position of where the sun sets. Then I have to create a sky whare the sun sets in a different position, more towards the back of the sign than in reality. That way I'll have both the sign and the sky, so all that's left is to create new simplified buildings so as not to detract away from the sign and the sky.

This photo has the background cleared to get a good view of the sign. I like the way the neon is all lit up, as well as the neon reflecting back onto the side of the sign....It's good, but I need it to be a bit later on in the day.

This is the right photo for the angle of the sign and also the front of the sign. It's a little later in the day & I'll have to mix it with the previous photo to get outside neon as well as the reflection of the neon for the painting.

I really like the word play of the neon... LOVE ART ... and taking it out of context and making a painting of it just hits the spot for me. The sign and the sky is all that is needed. In the painting I'll soften the "open 7 days" a little to play it down. The sky, I'll make up as I paint it.

The other thing is the size of the canvas.....it needs to be large... 4 foot high, 5 foot across. That should create a powerful presence.

Moonrise

2008-05-19T16:46:00.010+09:30

The recently completed painting Moonrise, 2008, oil on linen, 61x71cm is being used for a full page advert in Art and Australia magazine to promote my upcoming exhibition with Charles Nodrum Gallery. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out and consider it to be one of the best paintings of the year.....even if I have to say so myself?

But it nearly didn't get made. Firstly, I never set out to do such a painting, actually I was after a sunset. However, after an unsuccessful evening's photography in the country I turned around and started driving home only to jump out of the car again with the camera to capture the moonrise. Sometimes the best views are behind you.

Then, the photos languished on the computer for a while with no intention of being used for a painting. After some time I was looking for an image to use for my The Small Paintings Project . It turned out well and sold instantly, so before sending off the 5x6 inch version I emailed the buyer to ask if I can hang on to it for a week so as to do a larger version?

Here are a couple of of snapshots of the painting being made. it fell into place quite quickly, almost effortlessly. It's a great feeling when a painting causes you no grief, most are hard work and need constant concentration to make. A rare case of everything falling into place, it's as if this painting really wanted to be made despite my initial overlooking of it?

Out of step with time

2008-04-10T14:30:00.010+09:30

Study for Love Art, 2008, charcoal on paper, 20x25cm

Earlier this week I turned 46, that number 46 doesn't seem real, it's as if I'm out of step with time. 46.......shit! I can almost hear Margaret Olley's words in my ear "Hurry,...Last Days"

Hurry? No, I want to slow down. Slow down, as in take the time to do things right, make the paintings count, hopefully worthy of lasting? What's the point of another painting, or another exhibition unless you test yourself as an artist? With 35 solo exhibitions in the bag, it's not as if there's a gold watch waiting for me if I rush my way to 50 shows? I've never been a prolific artist and I feel that after going throught the labourious of making a painting, then hopefully it'll be seen in a decent exhibition

With that in mind a letter arrived on my birthday from Charles Nodrum Gallery inviting me to partake in a large exhibition at the gallery to coincide with the Melbourne Art Fair ( 12 July - 7 August ). The gallery wants to show all 51 artists, preferably new work for those who can and it will produce a 56 page catalogue with an image & text on each artist. The calalogue will become a small book which the gallery will then use to show clients the scope of it's artists.

A great birthday present......3 weeks to when an image will need to be ready for going to the printers. 3 weeks to come up with a single painting that will be used to define me as an artist. A catalogue that'll be used for the upcoming few years to to show people what it is that you do and an opportunity for me to show where I'm going, not where I've already been.

I took me 1 hour to work it out, 3 thumbnail sketches from a handful of photos I've been mulling over for the past few years and unable until now to resolve how to use them. I walked into my studio, looked at the wall of photos, reminders of images to consider for paintings and settled on a photo of a sign against the sky.

Love Art ( open 7 days ), so appropiate. I've been taking photos of this sign for years. I needed to add a new facade at the bottom, put in a church spire and a new sky....Just 3 weeks to paint.

But first my birthday lunch. Dianne took me to the Grange on the foreshore of Grange Beach. Perfect weather, sunny and 28C, a good table with unobstructed views of the jetty and beach and a lunch of oyster for entree and a serve of King George whiting. Afterwards a walk on the jetty and a sighting of a pod of dolphins swimming by...Dianne went silly on the spot.

Exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery ; Update

2008-03-23T16:29:00.005+10:30

The Parched land, 2008, available from The Small Paintings Project

My exhibitition dates at Charles Nodrum Gallery have been changed to 16 SEPT - 11 OCT, with the opening being on the night of Wednesday 17th September. This suits me to a tee, especially after the recent heatwave slowed down my ability to paint. 16 consecutive days above 35C, most over 38C (100F), so much for it being Autumn.
Eugene, the curator of my exhibition with Charles Nodrum Gallery was here last week to see how it all was coming along and also to escape Melbourne's Grand Prix. After a few hours of talking in the heat of the studio we went off to dinner and then joined the Adelaide Festival/Fringe crowds at The Garden Of Unearthly Deights. We ended up being part of the sweating audience in a tiny tent to see BADASS BURLESQUE and I had the great pleasure of seeing my dealer manhandled by a male S&M performer who lept from the stage grabbing him. The following night we were back to see ACROBAT, "SMALLER, POORER, CHEAPER" where predominantly nude acrobats did the most amazing death defying stunts under the stars. The third day was far too hot, but we visited the Robert Hannaford exhibition at Carrick Hill, Lunch in the Adelaide hills, the McLaren Vale wineries and finally driving along the coast from Aldinga to Adelaide showing Eugene the locations of some the vistas I have painted.

Empty Magazine & David Kassan

2008-01-22T15:49:00.000+10:30

This post is a shout out and plug for a friend of mine, the young Brooklyn artist David Kassan. I caught up with David at Byron Bay last April and he's one of the best portrait artist I know of. He's made the cover of Empty Magazine which is out now with a handful of full page glorious reproductions of his paintings inside. Furthermore he's also just started blogging, so check out his new blog Kassan Studio News.

David is one of those one in a hundred artists destined to make it.....see video below from Art School Confidential on how hard it is to make it as an artist.

New exhibition dates for my Melbourne show.

2008-01-09T23:27:00.001+10:30

I'm back from my Christmas break, which unfortunately really wasn't much of a break. No trip away just every second day taken off to do nothing other than stumble about and maybe a short drive into the country to pass the time away. When I did have some studio time most of it was taken up with cleaning it to get ready for the year ahead.

Just prior to Christmas I recieved notification that Charles preferred to move my exhibition dates forward a month. The exhibition now opens on the EDITED 16th of September and runs until 11th of October. The plan was to send the finished painting to Charles Nodrum Gallery by the first week of May. That hasn't changed, but now there is no room for error. The pressure will be felt more with publishing the catalogue in time and particularly with advertising in quarterly art magazines. Moving the exhibition from July to June means any advertising will need to be in the April/May/June issue. That takes 3 months off the time to decide on the key painting for publication and brings that deadline to this month.

I am trying not to panic despite the new year heatwave that made it impossible to work during it's peak of 4 days in a row above 40 C. However I did make the first batch of cradled panels and they are ready to paint on. The process of their making is time consuming, but so is their potential lifespan. Cradled panels made this traditional way can outlast the best canvases and reduce cracking of the paint over the centuries. Hopefully they will be wanted for so long?

For those interested in the making of these panels I used 3mm Birch ply (aircraft grade), on Oak and coated with a traditional Gesso made up of whiting and rabbit skin glue. After gluing the ply & the oak with a waterproof glue the grain of the oak was filled and sanded back. A single layer of rabbit skin glue was used to seal the surface then 8 layers of warm gesso was applied. Between every second layer of gesso the front and sides were lightly sanded and after the final coat of gesso the panels were sanded as smooth as glass. The back of the panels were then sealed with a layer of shellac and the front & sides were given a very watered down layer of shellac to reduce the absorbancy of the painting surface. Finally the sides are painted with 2 layers of a dark primer so as to blend in with the dark wall and to seperate the painting surface from the edges.

Making the Simple Difficult

2007-12-06T10:46:00.000+10:30

This last week I decided to paint one of the walls in my studio display room near black to see how my paintings will look in the dark room at Charles Nodrum's Gallery. A simple enough task, but as always, I made it difficult. After not being satisfied with the colours at Porters Paints, I decided to get them to customise one, roughly between 2 of their existing colours. Not happy with the result I got them to adjust the colour adding a bit more of this and that. After half an hour of tweeking the assistant added my colour to their custom colour chart and asked me to name it. I chose "Dumbluck"as it's name.
I took the tin of paint back to the studio, tested the colour and then spent another half an hour further tweeking the colour, much to the amusement of Dianne.

As part of my exhibition I have an idea to hang a cluster of small oil paintings in the dark room. These are to be painted on cradled panels made of Birch ply and Oak and coated with a traditional Gesso made up of whiting and rabbit skin glue, then sanded perfectly smooth. The sides of the panels will be painted dark and they'll protrude from the wall about an inch, making the glowing paintings float in space.

The panels are still being made and me being impatient, I hung a few of my paintings from my Small Paintings Project that were about to be sent off to their buyers. They are smaller and flatter than the cradled panels, but they did give me a fairly good idea that as a large cluster they will work.

My next exhibition

2007-12-02T00:10:00.001+10:30

Last Light,
Oil on linen panel, 10.2 x 20.4 cm (4x8 inches)
From the Small Paintings Project

Whilst in Melbourne I met with Charles Nodrum and Eugene Barilo von Reisberg to talk about dates and ideas for my next exhibition in Melbourne. Charles is of the opinion ( and I have to agree with him ), that many artists and galleries put on too many shows, often for no other reason than it's time again for an artist to have a show. Charles belives that an artist must have a reason for having an exhibition, ie a new development in their work, a specific project or a tight conceptual reason for a body of work being made and needing to be exhibited together. Also, if it's worth doing the show, then it's worth publishing a full colour catalogue with it. The other important element is to have the paintings ready and in the gallery a couple of months prior the opening. It seems as if most of the promotion and sales occur leading up to the opening and not during the exhibition, so the sooner the gallery has the work, the sooner they can invite people to preview it.

It all made perfect sense, but the hardest part for me has always been meeting deadlines. I usually work right up to the last minute, which in reflection isn't good for me ( ie. stress ), or my work, nor does it give the gallery enough time. Prior to this year, during the previous 4 years I had 13 solo exhibitions. The net result was exhaustion to the point of illness and burnout. This last year without a solo exhibition has enabled me get back on track and work through some new ideas.

The exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery opens on the *EDIT* 5th of June and the paintings will need to be in the gallery by the end of the first week of May. The exhibition will be upstairs at Charles's gallery in two large rooms, one of which has the walls painted near black. In the nearly 15 years I've been this gallery I have always showed downstairs in the main space. Not that the upstairs galleries are small, the two rooms add up to slightly more wall space than the main gallery. The exhibition will comprise of about 12 oils on canvas and a cluster of about 12 small paintings on cradled panels.

That is enough to make panic set in. There is a lot of pressure on me to get this exhibition right and also make sure the publication of the catalogue goes to plan. The example Charles gave to look at had roughly 40 pages to it and he suggested that mine should also have a couple of essays in it. One on the last 20 years of my work, showing the progression to now and including photographs of key works. The other essay to be about the current paintings and Charles suggested that seperate writers be found for each essay.

The plan is for the gallery to do less shows, but put more effort into each one and this is where Eugene Barilo von Reisberg comes in. He's in charge of all the organisational aspects of the exhibition. Meanwhile, I have already started work on this show before going to Melbourne and over the next month or so, the show really needs to jell into a cohesive body of work.

All I know is I'm going to have to pick up the pace and not slow down over Christmas, New Year and Summer.

Trip to Melbourne 2

2007-11-15T21:55:00.000+10:30

Dianne and I departed Adelaide like bats out of hell, leaving at 4.30 am and taking the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne. As with everytime I leave Adelaide, I was excited, doubly more so for going to Melbourne. Taking the scenic route and dawdling, we eventually arrived at the point of utter exhaustion, soon after 9.30 pm. Along the way there were stops for Breakfast, Lunch & dinner, visits to galleries like Wishart at Port Fairey, QDos at Lorne and a substantial amount of time staring out to sea, as if we were employed to count the waves.

This photo is of a very blurred tree sitting in a field of fog before sunrise. Taken in a rather lazy manner, whilst the car was moving. We weren't going to stop until we were safely 200kms from Adelaide. After sunrise, feeling safe from Adelaide, I was on my mobile phone to an artist friend who lives in New York. To while away the monotomy of being in the middle of nowhere, I was describing to him what's it's like to be in the middle of nowhere.
Soon after I saw the largest kangaroo I've ever seen, lying on the opposite side of the road, facing me and trying to get up. It must've been hit only moments before and as I started to slow down our eyes met. It was a weird experience as if in slow motion, passing by, looking at each other, I saw that it knew it's time was up. There was nothing I could do, middle of nowhere, with a dying kangaroo, larger than myself...and that's big & still very dangerous!

The image above is a painting from what I thought was the best show in Melbourne whilst we were there. Julia Ciccarone at Niagara Galleries. Titled The expedition, 2007, oil on linen, 91 x 198cm.

The second best show in Melbourne ( if you can judge such things ), was Nick Cave : The Exhibition at the The Arts Centre

Other shows worth a look were Philip Wolfhagen at Christine Abrahams Gallery, Loiuse Hearman at Tolarno Galleries and Abstraction 6 at Charles Nodrum Gallery.

Then again, the graffiti in Melbourne's famous laneways is just as visually exciting as any exhibition.

It was also so wonderful to catch up with friends and fellow artists during this trip. Beer & Breakfast (two seperate occasions) with Louise Blyton & David Coles of ST Luke Artists Colourmen. A great lunch at Loco with Triecia Gibney and the artists showing there Daniel Sanger & Michelle Giacobello. An alcomoholic night out with Amanda van Gils at the exclusive The Blue Diamond club. A wonderful dinner at Harvey's with the delightful Eugene Barilo Von Reisberg who'll be organising everything to do with my next exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery. And of course it was good to see and talk with Charles Nodrum about my next exhibition there.

This chap is the great sculptor & fisherman Clive Murray-White in his studio at Cowwarr. Carolyn Crossley, Clive's partner is the director of Cowwarr Art Space in the Gippsland region of Victoria. We had a wonderful time there and they are the most hospitable people in the world. Dinner after the opening was superb ( as usual ). Clive's fish were cooked to perfection, as was everything else and after sobering up enough we managed to drive back to Melbourne.

Dianne's paintings at Cowwarr.

A few more paintings

Back in Melbourne on the day we were to drive back I was out taking photos for the hell of it.

This one is my favourite. Looking for a cool shot of some interesting graffiti, I came across these two business execs eating their lunch whilst standing & using rubbish bins as tables. Raised by wolves? Click on the photo for a closer look at them and the fantastic graffiti.

Later on the day on the way back to Adelaide we saw a huge amount of smoke on the horizon. Turning off the freeway to explore the bushfire we soon realised it was quite large. You never know what photos you might get, maybe a painting, maybe burnt to a crisp? Anyway it soon became apparent it was a controlled burnoff with a little bit of "out of control" stuff.

Managed to get close enough for this shot before turning around and driving back home.

Trip to Melbourne

2007-11-07T20:59:00.000+10:30

I'm off for a much needed break to Melbourne, my favourite city in Australia. The weather is going to be perfect so Dianne and I have decided to take the longer but more scenic way via The Great Ocean Road. Even taking the ferry from Queenscliff to Sorento rather than the direct way.

The main reason for this trip is Dianne's exhibition at Cowwarr Art Space. I also am looking forward to catching up with some good friends, relaxing and taking photos that could end up as paintings. The drive starts before sunrise and we'll reach Melbourne after sunset, taking time to stop and explore all the towns along the way.

Launch of the Small Paintings Project

2007-10-17T19:24:00.000+09:30

Burning Sky, oil on linen board, 12.7 x 17.8cm ( 5'x7' )
I've finally launched The Small Paintings Project and here's the first painting "Burning Sky". An appropriate title to start with, as there is a saying that if the sky burns red tonight, then tomorrow will be a fine day.

The Small Paintings Project is an ongoing online exhibition of my small oil paintings. I will be adding new paintings here on a regular basis and these works will not be exhibited, nor able to be purchased anywhere else. These small paintings are studies and explorations of subject matter & ideas that may lead towards larger studio paintings.

I also wish to make these paintings affordable to collectors. Currently, my paintings are priced between $2,000AUD to $24,000AUD, with the average work at about $10,000. As a solution for making these really affordable, I've decided as an introductory offer to price the paintings at about 1/3 what they should be. Over the coming months, I will increase the price gradually until it becomes more equitable with my normal pricing. The paintings will be priced, not auctioned, there is a flat rate of $10AUD anywhere in the world for postage and first to fill out the "Buy Now" button, is the one to purchase it.

All the paintings are painted with the finest oils ( Vasari, Blockx & Old Holland ) and are painted on Art Boards™ Archival Oil Primed Linen Canvas Panels that have slots for easy hanging.

Love Art

2007-10-05T16:09:00.000+09:30

These last few weeks I've been working on new images. Nothing new with that, but this time I've gone through photos looking to find a greater variety of subject matter to paint. One of the problems with constantly focussing on a particular subject, ie, capturing the subtle colour shifts in the sky at the end of the day, is you might end up painting yourself into a narrow corner.

So, I have been revisiting sites and seeing if I can make something of them. One place ( the photo above ) is a street sign for a porn shop less than a mile from the studio. I am thinking of using the lit neon sign at dusk against the sky and not with the church as a background. That sign influenced an exhibition I curated about 5 years ago titled "Love Colour" of abstract colour-field paintings. The invitation cover had a pink heart with the words "Love Colour" inside it. Everybody loved the show and the invite except for a major local art dealer who rang me just to tell me that it looks as if I am running a brothel. Gotta love the artworld!

The opening was wild, we served nothing but coloured Daiquiris on the night and everybody got smashed. The next day an art class dropped by and helped finish off the Daiquiris before going back to art school quite drunk. And of course the show was a huge success.

Another thing I've had fun doing is photographing my hand against the sky for a series of paintings. Don't ask me why, it just came to me as a good idea? I haven't painted the human form since artschool, so it'll be interesting to see how they turn out. The first one is a small study for my upcoming new blog The Small Paintings Project, scheduled to start the middle of next week.

Artist Profile : New Australian Art magazine

2007-09-10T15:15:00.000+09:30

I picked up the first issue of Artist Profile, the new quarterly Australian Art magazine yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to discover how good it is. It's always exciting to find a new art magazine, the last major art magazine to start up "Australian Art Review" showed a lot of promise whilst being edited by John McDonald. However, soon after his departure, it went downhill fast.

The editor of Artist Profile, Paul Flynn, who worked ( or still does? ) at Michael Carr Gallery in Sydney, states:

"Artist Profile is a fresh new quarterly magazine that takes you into the studios of artists working today, watching their processes and listening to them discuss their ideas, inspiration and the technical and mental challenges they face in realising their visions."

True to Paul Flynn's word, this inaugural issue has good articles on Nicholas Harding (cover boy), Alan Jones, Peter Sharp, Karen Standke, Reg Mombassa, Ian Smith, Koji Ryui, Julie Frager, Master printmaker Thomas Goulder working with Dane Lovett....as well as many other articles including a transcript of a speech given by the English artist John Hoyland, to National Art School Students in Sydney. What sets this magazine apart from others currently available are things like the article by artist Steve Lopez, "Painting without fear" and even a couple of pages on the technical apects of painting "Know your colours".

It'll be interesting to see if this magazine continues focussing directly on artists and their work? At this stage the magizine is full of articles, with a modest amount of advertising. Unlike Australian Art Collector, which if accidently dropped on a cat, would surely kill it. So full of advertising is it, that it's near impossible to find an article and when you do, it reads like a public relations media press release designed to make you believe you need to "collect" whatever they are touting.

The Exquisite Palette painting

2007-09-06T12:45:00.000+09:30

This painting is my contribution to the Exquisite Palette show at St Luke Colourmen which opens tomorrow night. I flipped the palette around, as I am left handed. Actually, I recently started using a hand held palette again when I worked on a 5 x 10 ft painting. It was much easier carrying a hand held palette that wheeling back and forth my trolley palette. My next purchase will be a beautiful left handed palette with a lead counterweight balance built in it from Cornellisen's of London. I saw one when in London a few years ago and I'm kicking myself for not buying it then.

Meanwhile, I have always found that laying out my palette like this allows me to mix more complex colours. If there are more colours readily available then you are more likely to use them. Over the years, the act of dabbing more oil paint on the same spot has created a palette that is almost a work of art in itself. There have been offers from collectors of my work to buy it which I've found rather odd.

The Exquisite Palette exhibition at St. Luke Artist Colourmen

2007-08-30T12:48:00.000+09:30

I rarely get involved with group exhibitions which have prescribed themes or set sizes, but when invited to by good friends Louise Blyton and David Coles ( proprietors of St. Luke's ), to participate in the Exquisite Palette exhibition, I gladly accepted. David & Louise are a rare beings in the artworld, both are fine artists in their own right, run the best art materials shop in Melbourne, as well as manufacturing many of the products they sell. But their true worth is their knowledge, which they impart freely. Between them they know more about painting materials and how to use them than anyone else in Australia. Enough of that, anymore plugs to St. Luke's and people would start to think I have shares in the business.

(click on image to enlarge)

The Exquisite Palette exhibition, on show at St. Luke Artist Colourmen (the only place to get your art materials in Melbourne!). The show opens on Friday night, the 7th of September with works by over 150 artists, including David Band, Graham Fransella, Louise Hearman, Melinda Harper, Paul Boston, John Young, David Bromley, Christine Johnson, Juan Ford, Katherine Hattam, Jeremy Geddes, Jeff Makin, Dianne Gall, Triecia Gibney, Irene Wellm etc etc ( and of course Louise Blyton and David Coles ). Its going to be a massive show with the artists all presenting work on kidney shaped Palettes ( that St. Luke's supplied ), ranging from the exquisite to the bizarre!

(click on image to enlarge)

The Exhibition runs from 8th September-20th October Monday- Friday 10-6 Saturday 10-5 @ St. Luke Artist Colourmen 32 Smith St Collingwood

Port Adelaide at Dusk

2007-08-16T16:20:00.000+09:30

Port Adelaide at Dusk, 2007, oil on linen, 60 x 150cm (24 x 60 inches).

This recently completed painting is of a view of Port Adelaide. It's another painting to come from the many hundreds of photos I took last Christmas/New Year. I've wanted to paint this derelict building for many years, having taken so many photos from all sorts of angles, however nothing quite worked. On the 27th of December, the evening sky was incredible so I sped to the Port and set up on the middle of the Birkenhead bridge.

The Birkenhead bridge, besides being a major road, tilts and opens upwards at the middle allowing ships through. Hoping that no yachts would force me to move, I stood there with my back facing the traffic, being shaken by every truck passing by. As always there were the usual numbskulls who had to press the car horn, let alone about half a dozen clowns who hung out the car windows and screamed obscenities as they sped off into oblivion.

I don't mind, I just wish they had the wit to say something funny to help me pass the hour perched on a bridge that could open at any minute. I suppose it beats the usual harassment by over zealous security guards wanting to know if I'm a terrorist taking photos of industrial sites? Nowadays, when I see them coming I pretend to photograph them and that really annoys them.

Finalist : Sunshine Coast Art Prize

2007-08-10T11:53:00.000+09:30

Into the evening 2, 2007, oil on linen 111 x 137cm ( 44 x 54 inches )

I have been selected as one of the 40 finalists for the Sunshine Coast Art Prize to be exhibited at the Caloundra Regional Art Gallery in Queensland. The exhibition is on from August 15 until October 14, The opening and the announcement of the winner is on August 23, 6.30pm ( all welcome, free event ) . If you find yourself in Queensland in the next few months, drop by and have a look.

SALA Festival : Open Studio

2007-08-10T00:32:00.000+09:30

As part of Adelaide's SALA Festival ( South Australian Living Artist's Festival ) Dianne and I opened up the studio for the first and last time to the public. For 2 days people wandered through, politely looking at our art and studio. Mostly frightened to ask questions, they wandered about inspecting our painting rooms and gallery space ( some 60 linear metres or 180 ft of wall space ). It often felt like an open house inspection, people whispering to each other, others inquiring about the furniture. Some wanted our books, others my art toy collection ....Grrr!

A few of the art toys ( Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Jermaine Rogers etc ), a print by Jeff Soto and those 2 oils are early works by Dianne Gall ( owned by me ).

It was a big exhibition, we had 72 paintings, spanning more than a decade on display and if you included the art from other artists ( from our collection ) scattered around, the total was 87 artworks. The arts editor and photographer turned up from Adelaide's major newspaper. After an hour plus of chatting and posing for corny shots they left and so far nothing in the papers. Oh, well, at least I refused to be photographed next to a finished oil painting holding a clean brush, pretending to paint.

A good friend ( and art collector ) of ours helped out on Saturday, manning the desk and making sure no one walked out with anything they weren't supposed to.

Open Studio ; Jim Thalassoudis & Dianne Gall

2007-08-02T14:50:00.000+09:30

As part of SALA Festival ( South Australian Living Artist's Festival ) Dianne Gall and Myself are opening up our studio to the public. 2 days only, August 4th & 5th, 11am-5pm.

On view will be a selection of new paintings in the main gallery as well as our studio spaces.

Also there will be a stockroom sale of older paintings.

August 4 & 5 , 11am to 5pm

Trip to Cape Jervis

2007-06-28T15:54:00.000+09:30

After completing the painting "study for the wind farm" ( previous post ), I became obsessed with going back to Cape Jervis to rediscover it as a source for new paintings. Cape Jervis is about one and a half hour drive south from Adelaide, at the bottom tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Over the weekend I made 3 trips there, compelled in the feeling that I'll find something there that will make a subject matter for a painting or a series of paintings. I've been there probably twenty times in the past, only taking photos, but never using any for paintings.

Squared

2007-06-20T19:48:00.000+09:30

I have two paintings in an exhibition named Squared opening this week at Greenhill Galleries , Perth. "Squared" is an annual exhibition of 30 x 30cm artworks, allowing collectors an opportunity to purchase affordable small-scale works. This year 10% of all sales from "Squared" are being donated to the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children Foundation.

Opening night is 22nd June 6-8pm at Greenhill Galleries, 37 King St, Perth.

My two paintings are titled, Study for The drive home & Study for The wind farm, both oil on linen and both 30 x 30 cm.

If you are in Perth, check out the show, it's on until 6th July.

Painting of McNaught's Comet

2007-05-27T18:19:00.000+09:30

View of Comet McNaught from Thompsons Beach, South Australia, oil on linen, 90 x 145 cm
I haven't bothered to enter any art prizes for over a decade, but this year, I thought I might try my luck in a few. The above painting of McNaught's Comet has been entered into The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize. I'll find out at the end of the month if it is accepted to be hung in the exhibition.
Regardless of whether it makes the shortlist, the challenge had it's own rewards. The brief, to depict a natural history topic without any human influences is not as easy as it seems. Most of my paintings show the human touch in the landscape and even the pollution discolouring the sky.

The subject matter, the comet, wasn't the initial concept for the prize. It all started in the usual adhoc, whim that most things that are good come from. Late February, hearing on the radio that a comet can be seen in the night sky, I decided to check it out that night. However that night, Dianne and I had arranged to have a few drinks and a light meal in the studio with an artist friend of ours ( Aldo Iacobelli ), who was about to leave again for Barcelona.

Without giving Aldo the bum's rush, I kept an eye on my watch, keen to drive north to St Kilda Beach, hopefully to photograph the comet. As it was, as soon as Aldo was out the door, I said to Dianne "let's go!" and we sped into the evening.
The result was this.

Far more spectacular than I ever thought it would be, especially as I still remembered the disappointment of Halley's Comet.

It was only after seeing the results of the first night that I thought this could be a subject for the Waterhouse. Over the next few nights I went further afield, until reaching Thompsons Beach. Far away from Adelaide's light pollution and also far from anything man made. The last glow of the evening was so incredible, I just had to include it. The photo below is to the right of where the comet appear and shows the moon.

The end result is a painting created from 3 source photos, of the comet that night, the last light of the evening and a photo of the comet to show the placement of the stars.

I'll be back soon......

2007-05-18T23:40:00.000+09:30

The last 2 weeks have been crazy, I'm swamped with work. So much for taking this year even paced and not biting off more than I can chew. The studio is full of paintings that should've been finished by now, but instead they are in various stages, from just started to nearly completed. This weekend I'm off to Melbourne with Dianne who is exhibiting at the TarraWarra Museum of Art in an exhibition called Snap Freeze.

The painting below will be completed when I get back and soon after, hopefully the others. I'll catch up with the blogging as well, including some of projects I'ver started work on already.....such as the huge 5 x 10 ft painting, opening up the studio to the public as part of SALA ( South Australian Living Artists ) Festival, the mini online exhibion of miniatures and the painting I'm working on of McNaught's Comet.

The drive home

2007-04-30T16:21:00.000+09:30

( The basic blocking in of the painting is completed, the "white" of the canvas gone, leaving a ground to paint over. )

I've just started a new painting (above), tentatively titled "The drive home" and through the course of the week, I'll up update the blog showing the progress the painting takes until completion. I thought it was about time I did a WIP ( work in progress ) for those interested to see stages a painting goes through.

Meanwhile, I'll post about driving in the pursuit of images to paint. I always go for a Sunday drive and yesterday was no exception. Keen to see the autumn colours of the countryside heightened by 3 days of continuous rain, Dianne and I ventured through the Adelaide hills and out into sparser terrain. Now the odd thing about Adelaide drivers is that so many of them go for a ritualistic "Sunday drive" and so many of the them are such bad drivers. Add 2 drops of rain and the road toll skyrockets and this recent torrential rain has already been blamed for numerous deaths on the city and country roads, including 5 dead in one crash on a country road that I take regularly.

I dread being first on the scene of a car crash, especially in the middle of nowhere. I've come across some horrific ones, but never the first one there. I find it hard to describe the weird sensation of taking a bend at high speed and seeing a car upside down, off the road. Someone else had got just there and was ringing the emergency services with their mobile phone. The driver, an old man in his late sixties was taking the same bend as I just had and lost control on some loose gravel on the road. The car rolled several times ending upside down near a tree. He smashed the driver's window and crawled out, cut his hands, had a few knocks to the head, arms and legs but was generally ok, if anything quite lucky to be alive.

(The underpainting is started with a loose drawing in paint, roughly blocking in the image.)

A few years back whilst driving through an old desolate industrial area I turned the corner and saw an almost naked woman lying on the edge of the road on her back, unconscious. As I drove up to her I was already dialing for an ambulance on my mobile phone, imagining the worst, that she has been raped, beaten up and dumped on the street. There was no one else around, the streets were empty, I got out and tried to talk to her whilst also explaining on the phone to the medics what was happening. She was barely able to speak, slurring her words, passing in and out of consciousness lying in the full heat of the sun in the gutter.

I started thinking maybe she's overdosed? All I could do is make sure she was breathing, stand over her to cast a shadow, keeping her out of the blistering sun. The only words from her were "I'm hot" when she briefly came to. I could just image how the scene looked should anyone else come driving along, a man standing over what looked like a semi-clad dead woman in the gutter. There I am thinking "hurry up, bloody ambulance" when around the corner staggered a man looking like Charles Bukowski ( see photo below )
He was drunk, he said he just met the woman and helped take her clothes off because she was hot. Just then the ambulance finally arrived and the female ambulance officer looked me up and down and said "did you take her clothes off ? " I pointed to the barfly trying to stand upright.

Anyway, it turned out that they met whilst waiting for the pub to open, got sloshed and decided to walk to "Bukowski's" place in the heat for a bit of "horizontal refreshment", she got dizzy from overheating, he helped her out of her clothes and walked off.

Over the next few days I'll add to this post with new images and stories about odd and unusual things I've come across whilst out looking for something to paint.......

Remembering a place forgotten

2007-04-20T00:36:00.000+09:30

I take thousands of photos each year, sometimes travelling far away from the studio hoping to find the right sky, landscape or element that'll make a good painting. Two to three times a week I go out with the camera and more often than not, come back with nothing useful. Then there are the times I go back trawling through old photos looking for something that I dismissed as not part of what I am on about, but now, could possibly be something I can paint.

The painting above, "Meeting Place", 2006, oil on linen 60x60cm, came from a photo I took at 5.04pm on the 2nd of June, 2001. I know that because the digital camera time code says so, but for the last 6 years I have had no idea where it was taken from. After completing the painting, exhibiting it in Perth, I came back with a desire to find the location. I even went on a excursion to find the place, wasting a day driving around the country towns south of Adelaide, all the way to Sellick's Beach.

I was sure that's where I took the shot, but returned frustrated in the knowledge that maybe I'll never find out. It's been bugging me for so long and today I finally worked it out! To my disbelief, it turns out to be just a few blocks away from my studio.

What set me off again, searching for an answer was reading James Roberts Blog, On Painters & Painting entry about one of my paintings. "Where the road meets the sky" ( below ) is also a painting where I had forgotten the location. It was a bit embarrassing to read James Robert's eloquent blog about this painting sparking emotions, memories, and igniting a strange sense of recognition that made you feel that you've been there when you probably hadn't.

In my case I was there, but where ?

It's an odd situation to be in, to become your own detective, retracing your steps, looking for clues to where you have been and in this case, only a few months ago.

The actual location of "Where the road meets the sky", was a strange fuzzy memory for me. I was cloud chasing around Christmas, not paying attention to which road I was taking. After a while, I had no idea where I was only to find the road in front of me more interesting than the sky. A few weeks ago, I went looking for it and was unable to pin point it.

After reading his blog, I was detirmined to have another go and I found it. It has been driving me crazy for weeks now. Frustrated that my memory was letting me down, I reviewed the time code & had a close look at all the images taken that day. The photo was taken on January 1, 8.13pm and on another photo taken a minute later, I can just make out a road sign ( thank god for the 10 million pixels! ) . Google maps did the rest, satellite images confirmed the building/road/trees.

That road is Lyndoch Rd between Hentschke & Braunack Rds, Barossa Valley.

Rather than feeling relieved, I feel as if I lost a little of the mystery of the painting. There is a beautiful sensation of half remembered memories, distorted by time and not knowing all the details, let alone how real they are. Some of my fondest memories as a child are probably so distorted by time now that I'm not even sure where the locations were. I remember places, the light, the water, how large things seemed, how slowly time passed.

I am not particularly interested in capturing a sentimental nostalgia of place in my paintings, but it seems I have.

Trip to Brisbane and Byron Bay ( part 2 )

2007-04-14T15:13:00.000+09:30

We finally made it to Byron Bay and to the Summerhouse which was just the most amazing place to stay at. Each morning I was up before sunrise ( a rare occurance back in Adelaide ), to take photos of the incredible view overlooking the whole of Byron Bay.

One of the reasons for this trip was to meet up with some online art friends, particularly David Kassan, who was visiting from New York to give a life painting workshop to some local artists. I wasn't one of those doing the workshop, but David did invite Dianne and myself to drop by and see a few of the demo's. Precocious and talented, young Kassan performed 3 hour demo's each morning interspersed with amatuer attempts at Aussie lingo thrown in. At dinner the night before, with a few other artists, we taught Kassan Aussie sayings and challenged him to find a way to fit them into the demo. He picked up on me saying "shits me to tears" and the next morning, whilst visiting the demo - out it came with an American accent.

I wanted to see as much as possible whilst in the area and so we took an all day drive from Bangalow, into the hinterland all the way to the Queensland border, then back along the sea. From Bangalow we drove through Lismore towards Nimbin, along the way we diverted off the main road and found ourselves on a dirt track heading around the top Konorigan Ranges. The views were spectacular as we made our semi-lost way into the Nightcap National Park. Somewhere near Turritable Creek we saw a sign for a waterfall, so of course we followed the road driving alongside one of Australia's oldest Hippie community scattered through the rainforest. At the end of the road a sign notified us that the waterfall was actually on private property and as we tried to find out where we were on a map, a hippie walked out and said hi to us.

Her name was Teresa and she carried an impressive bejewelled plastic silver sword. We got to talking and found out the history of the community living self suficiantly in the rainforest since landing there at the tail end of the so-called days of "Aquarius". Teresa was going to try her luck hitchhiking to Nimbin ( we hadn't seen a car in an hour ) so I offered to take her there and in so doing, avoiding the likelihood of getting lost again. She told us we will be approached and offered Dope in Nimbin, so expect it and true to her word, after parking the car, I took only 5 steps before some hop-head said "wanna get some smoke?".

Walking down mainstreet Nimbin was entertaining, fending off people wanting to sell me dope every 20ft and just seeing a town so different to any other in Australia. It was kinda sad seeing the town divided between those, like Teresa doing it tough, living nearly 2 decades off the land and young, fat hop-head drug dealers feeding off tourists, whilst pretending to be hippies.

From Nimbin we drove past Mount Warning to Murwillumbah and stopped at the Tweed River Art Gallery for a late lunch. It was well worth the drive, the gallery, the art on show, the location, the food was so good. It made us wonder why there weren't Regional Galleries like this in South Australia. Apart from the Riddoch gallery in Mount Gambier, South Australia is devoid of decent Regional Galleries.

From there we drove to the coast, to Brunswick Heads before joining the banked up traffic trying to leave Brisbane early for their Easter break at Byron Bay. I was trying to get back to Byron Bay well before sunset, as I wanted to walk from Main Beach to Watego's Beach, then hike up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse before dark. The Lighthouse is the most Easterly point in Australia and I was hoping to get some good photos along the way.

After walking main beach, we were hoping to be able to get through the pass and walk along Watego's Beach, but the tide was in.

A desperate surfer.

Unable to walk along Watego's Beach we had to hike over it, losing valuable daylight time.

After hiking uphill, then descending down to Watego's beach, I had to once again hike up, this time 1 km relentlessly up, to get to the lighthouse! Cape Byron Lighthouse and it's past sunset.

The view of Byron Bay from the lighthouse. Finding ourselves alone, standing in the dark, we had the problem of getting back to Byron Bay. It was too dangerous to take the narrow hiking path back, some of it has no guard rail and it's a sheer drop to the rocks! So, we walked in pitch black down the road back to Byron. After a mile or two, the eerie feeling of walking in total darkness subsided, we saw some houses, street lights and finally made our way back to Byron where we had dinner ( seared salmon on a prawn risotto ) with lots of cool drinks.

Back at the Summerhouse, exhausted, I fell asleep holding a half finished beer in my hand.

Trip to Brisbane and Byron Bay ( part 1 )

2007-04-09T12:09:00.000+09:30

Dianne at GOMA

Last week saw Dianne and myself flying off to Brisbane on a much anticipated art/holiday. Initially it was planned to be an ambitious road trip from Adelaide to Brisbane hugging the coastline for many a thousand kilometres. We both love driving and share the excitement of venturing down roads never traversed before. I can't help myself, often diverting down random roads just to see what's there.

Anyway, after weeks of planning, looking at maps, checking out accommodation etc, it became apparent that it'll be too exhausting. The road trip will have to be taken another time, we were after all going to Brisbane and Byron Bay for specific reasons. Firstly to see the new Gallery of Modern Art, then other galleries in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Secondly to drive down to Byron Bay and catch up with a group of artists that we met online. Thirdly to take photos for possible paintings and finally to relax and enjoy a short holiday.

The GOMA in Brisbane was impressive. Five floors of massive galleries with the 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art being on at the time. One problem with building such a large cavernous gallery is filling it with good art. I remember Margaret Olley talking once about some oversized contemporary art as being arrogant, demanding huge spaces for small ideas. Some of this is evident at the GOMA, as well as a sense of curatorial extravagance in purchasing many similar works of an artist and hanging them on mass. In one long hall there are 9 huge photographs by Tsuyoshi Ozawa from the " Vegetable weapon" series, all depict a woman holding a weapon made of vegetables. The effect of seeing all nine, on mass, is to realise that Goma should've purchased 3-4, as not all of them are equally good. Also walking past the same idea over and over again for 60ft ( just different veggies ) dissipated the power of the work and eventually made it merely banal.

On the upside, the works of Anish Kapoor occupied their space perfectly and with Ah Xian's ceramics, were the highlights of the GOMA visit.

Before driving to Byron Bay, we visited a few of Brisbane's better commercial art galleries, Philip Bacon Galleries - Robert Brownhall exhibition , Jan Murphy Gallery - Alexander Seton exhibition and Heiser Gallery - Louise Forthun exhibition. It was the first time I'd been to Heiser Gallery and met Bruce Heiser, who is a affable, friendly chap. Heiser Gallery is relatively new and in the last couple of years has established itself as one of the main galleries in Brisbane.

On the way down to Byron Bay, we stopped at Art Galleries Schubert on the Gold Coast. it's bizarre and unexpected sight to find a contemporary art gallery in a shopping mall (Marina Mirage). It's like an overflowing emporium of paintings, stacked 10 deep in some places. The thing is there is some really great work there, paintings by Dale Frank, Anwen Keeling, James Gleeson, Michael Zavros, Tim Maguire and dozens of others.
The Summerhouse, where we stayed in Byron Bay

Sometimes the periphery gets the better of me

2007-03-29T11:08:00.000+09:30

Standing in front of a canvas, painting is for me, one of the most necessary acts to be performing. That being said, occasionally I do find myself at the end of a week, having barely made a mark. This last week has been one such week. Baffling as it may be, that a full-time artist can be busily occupied for an over week attending to a myriad of distractions and processes peripheral to painting, but not including it.

It's hard not to feel guilty for not painting for such a long time and I always do in these situations. Looking back, it's not as if I have been lazy, just one on those weeks where I have been swamped with other tasks.

There were the necessary tasks of stretching canvases, varnishing finished works, framing, photographing, wrapping paintings and shipping them off. Also, I've been going through of hundreds and hundreds of photos this week, cropping, adjusting them etc, trying to decide which, if any, can be used for the basis for new paintings.

There were the speculative tasks; like the day I drove over 250 kms looking for vistas to paint, only to find nothing suitable and returning without even taking a single photograph. Or going to a mass kite display at Semaphore beach, hoping to find something of interest. Waiting for the wind to pick up, whilst slowly getting sunburnt, Dianne and I eventually ending up at the Semaphore Palais enjoying a lunch of oysters, lemon pepper squid and Coopers Pale ale.

There was a new experience; spending an art dealer's money by going to an auction and bidding on his behalf. The dealer was interstate and unable to attend, so I ended up purchasing 5 works, wrapped them up and sent them off. I also helped out a fellow artist by photographing his paintings in my studio.

Then there was the painful task of sacking the webdesigners for not completing my website and then getting quotes from someone else to finish the job. The less said about the countless hours sorting this mess out, the better. Finally, the tedious task of paperwork took up an way too much of my time, too boring to describe other to say that for some reason, this week I was drowning in a sea of it.

Today, I have a new canvas on the easel and the next three days are free to just paint.

The Other Painting

2007-03-16T23:00:00.000+10:30

Here is the other painting that was completed this week. It's titled "Where the road meets the sky" and is the same size as the previous one. This painting could be seen as a departure from my normal range. It appears at a glance, a traditional landscape without any clouds. However, I believe it does fit within my ongoing desire to depict the Australian sky, particularly the momentary beauty at evening, Capturing the subtle colour shifts at the end of the day, just prior to, or soon after sunset. It's just that this time there are no clouds as such, just a warm dusty haze on the horizon.

I remember that warm summer's day going out for a drive into the evening. I was chasing clouds, which for me has been a 20 plus year obsession. I enjoy nothing more than getting lost whilst being led by ever diminishing clouds on the horizon that I never quite can catch up with. Always dissolving before I can get close. On the evening that the photos were taken for this painting I had no idea where I was. Having taken dozens of random left & right turns down dusty dirt roads, for all I knew, I could be a 100 miles from anywhere?

The light was beginning to fade, so I got a few photos of the road ahead before using my usually good sense of direction and the setting sun to work out the way home. Most of the roads go nowhere and there are barely any signs to guide you. A few days beforehand, I was doing the same, driving south of Adelaide and came across this less than helpful sign.

A new painting

2007-03-16T17:29:00.000+10:30

I've spent the better part of this week working on two small paintings and they are finally completed. The one above is called "Into the Evening" , oil on linen and is 61 x 71 cm ( 24 x 28 in ).

The art of waste

2007-03-09T13:18:00.000+10:30

I've just made a new plinth to pile on the scrapings of unused and partly dried oil paint from my palette. This time I'll try to make more of a sculpture of it than the last one ( see above ). Unfortunately there is always going to be some waste from painting and it can end up being expensive - that pile is the accumulation of about a year and $1,000 worth of unused pigment. Then there is my palette, many years of placing the oil paint on the same spot has created small stalagmites of bloody expensive paint!

I've had offers from art collectors to buy my palette as well as those scrapings of paint pretending to be a sculpture. I suppose it's better than throwing it the bin, since most of the pigments are Cadmiums, Cobalts and other very toxic chemicals. Even the turps used to clean the brushes with ends back in bottles allowing the pigment to settle before reusing the turps again. I've got half a dozen bottles full of toxic pigment sludge if anybody wants them?

A minor effort rewarded

2007-03-03T14:38:00.000+10:30

Fiday night Dianne & I decided to undertake the impossibility of driving into the city to attend the George Raftopolous exhibition opening at Hill Smith Gallery. The gallery is in the city CBD and with Friday night shopping it's always a minor nuisance finding a spot to park the car. What made the venture foolhardy was that Adelaide was in the grip of the Clipsal 500 V8 street car race in which 270,000 motorheads attend over 4 days. That and the race track is on the end of the same street, a mere 200 metres from the gallery door.

So, you are probably thinking that I must either be the sort of person who goes to an opening of a toilet block for a free glass of wine, or Raftopolous is a good mate of mine? Well, it's actually a little more complicated than that. I've never met the man, but I wanted to go and show support for a fellow artist, especially as this is his first exhibition here. The parochial city of Adelaide is unkind to interstate artists, showing not only incredible indifference to them, but also a peculiar fickleness evidenced by trivial excuses for why they are unable to attend. "A seagull looked at me strangely today, I couldn't make it to your opening" etc. Despite half the city streets being closed we had a miraculous run and immediately found a free park across the road from the gallery, so much for the difficulty of it. A small group of "art lovers" were in attendance to see a good, strong, and consistant body of work deserving of more attention that it was getting.

The other reason I wanted to go to the opening was to meet George, we have been associated with the same galleries in the past, but have never met. Last year when Sam Hill Smith added George to his "stable" of artists he made the passing comment to me ... "and George, your mate says hi to you " Totally perplexed, I told Sam... " I know his work, but have never met, spoken or been in the same room as him, wouldn't know him from a bar of soap, if he was in front of me right now...but good on you for taking him on". I instantly liked the guy, imagining him to be a likeable rogue... showing his work to Sam and sending him off on errands to pass on salutations to artists he doesn't know.

On meeting him at the opening, we greeted each other as long lost friends and got on like a house on fire. He is hardly a rogue, just an affable chap with a good sense of humour. George and his wife are both open, friendly, generous people without pretentions and I was so glad we made the minor effort to see his exhibition.

Anyway, we ended up outside the front of the gallery so that George could partake in the bad habit of smoking, chatting as artists do.... about art dealers, always categorised as either saints or sinners and nothing in between. Across the road from us was the sight of two of Adelaide's prominant art collectors strolling past, eyes averted from looking towards the gallery and instead fixated at the pavement just ahead of their toes. Maybe they saw a seagull, or whatever, but they passed us on their way to join the many Adelaidians who find it all too hard.

It was a wonderful night, the evening was warm, the occasional good humoured drunk staggering home post car race and then I saw the sky. It was the most incredible sunset ( between the city buildings ) and we couldn't resist pointing out the obvious ... "there's a painting....if only it could be captured".

An itch that must be scratched

2007-02-24T22:24:00.000+10:30

After spending twenty years and a considerable amount of cash creating a conducive studio environment for painting indoors ( albeit air-conditioning ), I have recently got a craving to paint Plein air. This all came about because a good friend, fellow artist, Peter Serwan brought it up recently. I have known Peter for 27 years, starting art school at the same time and somewhere in that time, Dianne and myself introduced Peter to the woman that became his wife ( Liana ).

Anyway, I am digressing, the point is he put the idea into my head by saying "we should go paint outdoors one or two times a month, on a Friday". I agreed that it might be good idea, to keep one's "eye in", to paint more directly and even seeing what might come from painting a subject for the hell of it. So, I rang Peter on Friday to say "let's do this, how soon do you want to start"? It looks like we'll start in early May, after Peter's Melbourne exhibition opens. All very well, but I've got itchy feet and want to venture out of the studio much sooner than May. I have already dusted off my French made Jullian Plein air easel, purchased many moons ago and barely ever used.

But before I can go out and paint amongst the flies, dust, heat & humans, I have to complete the 2 small painting to go to Perth. They need to be framed, wrapped and ready for pickup on Friday morning. The commission & paintings for Charles Nodrum also need more work before I can enjoy the folly of Plein air painting. Anyway, another heatwave is on its way, making going out on Friday after the satisfaction of seeing a couple of paintings depart the studio unlikely, it’s going to be 40 C again.

So, my trial run at Plein air painting will have to wait until the following week.

Heatwave

2007-02-17T12:23:00.000+10:30

40 Celsius yesterday, 40 Celsius today and will be 40 Celsius tomorrow, a mere 104 Fahrenheit. The joys of living and working in Adelaide never cease. My studio has no air-conditioning apart from the office and right at this moment, 1pm, its 32 Celsius inside. Being a warehouse it takes a few days of heat to warm up and during lengthy heatwave, it's impossible to work in the main building for more than a few hours at a time. After then, delirium sets in.

Between the unbearable heat and delirium, I have been attempting to complete a few outstanding paintings without much success. There is a long overdue painting commission that goes back a couple of years to a couple who can only be described as possessing the patience of a saint. Two small paintings need to find their way to Greenhill Galleries Perth ASAP. The ever patient Charles Nodrum is awaiting the 3 paintings promised to him for February, as in now. Somehow in the two remaining weeks of February, all this will have to be achieved despite the whole of next week forecasted to be well into the 30’s C.

First Scribble

2007-02-10T13:15:00.000+10:30

Welcome to my blog, my first entry into the world of Blogging. A place where I'll be scribbling up my thoughts, peripheral to and directly associated with my art and it's making. Most probably it’ll be updated weekly, on a Saturday, unless procrastination sets in. Anyway, why Blog? I enjoy the voyeuristic aspects of reading blogs, especially other artists and thought, why not? So, this whim of mine might turn out to be a folly. All I can do is try to make it fun and hopefully a few people wander in and bother to read it.