The Sketchbook Project

The Sketchbook Project is organized through The Brooklyn Art Library, New York. You sign up on their website, pay for a sketchbook and when they send it to you, you choose one of the titles they provide, fill it up with images and then send it back to the Library. They digitize your book as well and then send it on tours around America. It also becomes an addition to the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Library. People from all over the world have done sketchbooks, and anyone can do it.

Story telling has never been a feature of my art practice, but The Sketchbook Project has encouraged me to do just that. I have made a visual narrative, much like a silent film, so I hope you enjoy your journey too.

If you are interested in doing a sketchbook yourself, or finding out more about it, then check out this link www.thesketchbookproject.com


All sketchbooks measure 17.75 x 12.75 cm

Emil Orlik

I recently attended a concert at the Hamer Hall featuring music from the Wiemar republic. It was the brainchild of Barry Humphries to present music from that era, not only because he loved it from a very young age, but also because he felt that some composers from that time remain under valued today. His selection of music was accompanied with historical references and anecdotes, and the wonderful Humpheries' wit and humour. The music was performed by The Australian Chamber Orchestra and cabaret singer Meow Meow, and as expected, they were brilliant!

When I was looking over the programme I came across some portrait images and discovered a fantastic, but to me, unknown German artist, Emil Orlik. Here are some examples of his work. He was very popular in his time but, as so often happens to brilliant artists, his star faded after his death. But his reputation is on the rise again. 

He was a great printmaker, draughtsman and painter and was inspired by prints from Japan and British artist William Nicholson. Here is a link to his printmaking achievements http://www.orlikprints.com/ 

I hope you enjoy this artist's work. 

Deakin University Art Collection

These works of mine have recently entered the Deakin University Art Collection. The sculpture was selected to be in the first Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award in 2009, so it is satisfying that it has found a home at Deakin.

Illusion on Linen, 2006, oil on linen, 35.5 x 27.75 cm

Untitled #72, 2000, oil on canvas, 152 x 83.5 cm

Passage, 2009, balsawood, MDF, tung oil, oil primer, 31.25 x 40.4 x 31 cm

Ray Harryhausen

Recently it was announced that the great special effects master, Ray Harryhausen, had passed on. For those who don't know his work, it is well worth your while looking him up. He spent many decades doing special effects for films, but unlike today's CGI, his work was based on model making and animating his models by hand, then photographing each move - thousands of times. He called this technique Dynamation.  Some of my favourite Harryhausen films are Jason and the Argonauts, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Clash of the Titans and Earth Versus the Flying Saucers.

Check out YouTube for the skeleton fight from Jason and the Argonaunts, and Sinbad's sword fight with Khali from The Golden Voyage of Sinbad - amazing stuff.

The following images will give you an idea of his working methods and his art works.

1 - Harryhausen working with a model of a dragon.

2 - Charcoal and pencil on yellow tinted paper. For Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.

3 - Charcoal and pencil on illustration board. For an unrealized scene in The 3 Worlds of Gulliver.

4 - Cotton and Latex over metal armatures with resin skulls. Two of the seven skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts.
5 - Pencil on paper. The Beast, from 20,000 Fathoms
6 - Latex body, internal metal armature. Ship's figurehead from The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

Good-bye Black Caviar

A few weeks ago, my partner Deborah Klein and I went to Caulfield racecourse to farewell the great Black Caviar. She trotted up and down the straight, as the top picture shows, and then she had a hose down and entered the exercise ring. It took her nearly an hour and a half to circuit the ring because everyone who was there got to pat her. Deborah and I kept going down the line so we had about six pats each! How generous of her connections to share her with the public like this. It was a magical afternoon, and Black Caviar loved all the attention. She is such an easy going horse and never showed any signs of becoming irritable with the endless patting. She will be missed, and although I saw her race on a number of occassions, I never thought I would get that close to her. Donna Fisher, her strapper, will especially miss her, because looking after a horse like that is a once in a lifetime blessing.

Painting at the Racetrack

Here are some of my latest paintings of the horse racing world. It is such a pleasure to paint outdoors, and the last two photographs give a good example of my en plein air activity. Phil England took some shots of me painting the Straight Six at Flemington racecourse from the stewards tower. It usually takes about fifteen sittings to complete a painting of a racecourse, each sitting  from about 9am to 4.30 pm, and some further work in the studio.

Lautrec at the National Gallery of Australia

Recently I went to Canberra to see the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, and what an exhibition it was too. The paintings, prints and drawings were of such excellence that it was a privilege to have been there. With every picture, it was like seeing a breathing human being within the picture frame. Lautrec would have to be one of the great portraitists of all time. His colours are very subtle and reproductions tend to wash out their richness but the above examples will give you some idea of what he achieved in a short lifetime.

This website has the complete works of Lautrec and is worth a look - Toulouse-Lautrec

Unveiled

This painting is currently showing in an exhibition called Unveiled : Art from the Manningham, Maroondah and Whitehorse Council Collections. Three curators got together and selected work from their Council Art Collections and presented them at the three different council galleries at the same time.
The curators are Megan McEvoy from Manningham Art Gallery, Wendy Garden from Maroondah Art Gallery and Jacquie Nichols from Whitehorse Artspace. My partner, Deborah Klein, is also one of the exhibiting artists.

Untitled #19, 1997, oil on linen, 91.5 x 61 cm

Unveiled

Manningham Art Gallery

687 Doncaster Road 

Doncaster Vic 3108

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11 am  - 5 pm

Maroondah Art Gallery  

32 Greenwood Avenue

Ringwood Vic 3134

Hours:  Tuesday – Friday 10 am – 4 pm

Saturday 12 pm – 4 pm

Whitehorse Artspace

1022 Whitehorse Road

Box Hill Vic 3128

Hours: Tuesday and Friday 10 am – 3pm

Wednesday and Thursday 9 am – 5 pm

Saturday 12 pm – 4 pm

Exhibition dates (Manningham Art Gallery): 23 January – 16 February

Exhibition dates (Maroondah Art Gallery and Whitehorse Artspace): 23 January – 2 March

Images from the Track

This year I'm continuing on with the theme of thoroughbred racehorses and the track. I've always been fascinated by horses and jockeys, and I have a great admiration for people who can ride well. From an artist's perspective, a horse and rider offers amazing architecture, and beautiful proportions are always an inspiration. One only has to look at images of the great cathedrals to appreciate the power of architecture, and I do see a horse and rider in the same way. One of my concerns in making these paintings is composition. My aim is to make an arrangement that is complex but clear at the same time. Some of my favourite horse painters are Sir Alfred Munnings, Degas, George Lambert and at times, George Stubbs.  Sometimes it's good to change direction in one's work, and an art that is about natural light and the organic can be refreshing, and  I can understand why Hockney returned to Bradford to paint the landscape.

From the top - 

Black Caviar, 2012, oil on linen, 84 x 1220 cm

Trackwork at Flemington, 2012, oil on MDF, 23 x 32 cm

Returning to Scale, 2012, oil on plywood, 49 x 40 cm

Belle Arti Prize

Yellow Canary, 2012, oil on linen, 36 x 36 cm

This is my entry painting for the Belle Arti Prize. The exhibition is open to all artists but the only restriction is that all the paintings must be done on a stretched linen measuring 36 x 36 cm. This painting is a variation on my previous work Canary. Can't wait to see what everyone has done.

The exhibition is at Chapman & Bailey Gallery from Wednesday, December 12 until Saturday, January 26.

Chapman & Bailey Gallery

350 Johnston Street

Abottsford 3067

Vic

tel: 03-94158666

www.chapmanbailey.com.au

email: info@chapmanbailey.com.au

Photography by Tim Gresham

HIGHWIRE

Highwire, 2012, hand coloured linocut, 15 x 20 cm

Here is a recent print of mine that will be shown in the Australian Print Workshop Gallery from November 30 until February 2. The exhibition is called IMPRESSIONS 2012, and is a fundraising project which will showcase over one hundred and sixty artists from all over Australia. All the prints have been made especially for this show and are the same size in an edition of 10. 

Australian Print Workshop Gallery

210 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065

Telephone 03 0410 5466  auspw@bigpond.com  

www.australianprintworkshop.com

Gallery hours: Tueday to Saturday 10am - 5pm

Cllosed 23 December 2012 - 7 January 2013

Painting Flemington Racecourse

Recently I mentioned I have been doing some plein air painting, but much of it has been done at some of Victoria's racecourses like Flemington, Caulfield and Mildura. I have had a fascination with empty expanses like football grounds and racecourses ever since I can remember. An arena is like a void where the mind can imagine what might happen. In outdoor painting, space and light are the main subject matter, perhaps more so than the location, but it is like trying to paint something you cannot touch or measure. 

The top photograph shows a work in progress. It takes many sittings to complete these paintings and the weather also determines when I can work. If it is a sunny picture then it is necessary to wait for the next sunny day to continue. 

View of Flemington, 2012, oil on linen, 71.5 x 122 cm

The Straight Six, 2012, oil on wood, 45 x 50 cm

En Plein Air

This is a follow up to my residency at the Art Vault in Mildura in June, 2012. Over the past year and a  half I have been doing a considerable amount of outdoor painting. It can be quite challenging, particularly when the weather is windy! And the paint seems to dry quicker than it does indoors. In the above painting I've added a small figure. Constable often did this; I like the idea of humanity as a subtle presence in the landscape. You don't see too many artists painting en plein air these days, so you can feel a bit self conscious. Not many artists work from the model either, whether it is inside or outside, or as Cezanne said, 'sur le motif '. Frank Auerbach often worked from the motif. You would not think he had a model in the studio when you see his abstracted work, but he once explained why he does:

'The whole point of having a model in front of one is that it continually surprises one. Where one expects the rhythm to be continuous, it's broken, where one expects the grandeur to continue, one suddenly gets a trivial inflection. Where one expects the thing to be trivial, you suddenly see a quite unpredictable rhythm that runs counter to anything you have done before.'

I also like Eugene Boudin's famous saying, 'Everything painted on the spot has a strength, a power, a vividness of touch that one does not find again in the studio'.

Of course, most of the world's great paintings were not done on the spot or with a model present, but I do have a particular liking for pictures that have been done this way.

Perry Sandhills, 2012, oil on linen, 40.5 x 50.5 cm

Trouble Magazine Article

                  Portrait of Deborah, 2009, oil on linen, 36 x 36 cm                           Missing, 2010, oil on canvas, 83.5 x 60.5 cm


I've just returned to Melbourne after a solo exhibition and residency at the Art Vault in Mildura. What an opportunity to take advantage of the sunny weather there and do some outdoor painting. I think I will continue to do more en plein air canvases and see where it takes me.

Prior to taking up the residency, Inga Walton wrote an article/inyerview on my work which is published in TROUBLE magazine. I think Inga Walton is one of our best Arts writers. She asks very thoughtful questions based on her research of artists' past and current work. Here is a link to her article in TROUBLE.

The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius

I mentioned in a previous blog that my painting of a canary was inspired by the Dutch 17th century artist Carel Fabritius, and here is an image of his fantastic painting. Fabritius was a contemporary of Vermeer and they both lived in Delft. In 1654, the Delft gunpowder magazine exploded, killing a quarter of the town's residents. What a tragedy that Fabritius was one of those killed at the young age of 32, with the loss of many of his works.