Hands in Art

Human hands are one of the most beautiful things to paint and draw. We've all heard it said that the eyes are a window to the soul, but for me, the hands are every bit a revelation of the soul's qualities. When one looks at a great dancer, horse rider, musician or pool player, to name a few examples, it's the feeling in the hands that are so noticeable. You could say that one's whole body reveals your soul and it would probably be a true statement, but the hands are a special part of that soul/body. 

Here are a few examples of hands from some of my paintings and drawings.

Official Ending to My Exhibition

 It's now the official ending to my exhibition titled Drawing on Light and Air. I say official because it's not the actual ending as I've been given an extra 4 weeks exhibition time! The works that sold will not be there but enough paintings were left over to make a substantial show. Here are some installation shots of the full exhibition.

Many thanks to Charles and Kate Nodrum and also to Kirsten Rann who made this exhibition so easy for me!

I love the display that each exhibiting artist gets whenever he or she has a show

The entrance to the Charles Nodrum Gallery gallery

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

At the Princess Theatre recently, a remarkable stage production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was  presented by the Shake & Stir Theatre Company. The production values were incredible and from the opening moments of the play, the audience was gripped by an energy and an inventiveness that remained throughout the performance. 

Nelle Lee, co-artistic director, was responsible for this adaptation, directed by Nick Skubij and importantly, retained Mary Shelley's story rather than the Hollywood version which does not probe the philosophical complexities of the story or gives enough attention to the roles of women. 

Starring Darcy Brown, Tony Cogin, Nick James, Anna Lise Phillips, Jeremiah Wray and Chloe Zuel, all the actors played multiple rolls (except Jeremiah Wray who plays the creature) and they morphed into their different characters seamlessly and all of them were up to the challenge. 

The video projections, by Craig Wilkinson, added another dimension, literally, as they immersed the audience and the actors into environments that were extensions of what was happening on the stage. The technology was used with good judgement, not over relying on it to diminish the impressive stage designs by Josh McIntosh. Guy Webster contributed a stirring score which captured the various emotional and mood changes throughout the story.

There is a possibility it will be returning to Melbourne because it was only on for a week. Hopefully this will come to pass as this production is a must see and Melbournians deserve further opportunities to see it.

From left - Deborah Klein, Paul Compton, Evan Pearce, Shane Jones

The Creative Team

Chloe Zuel and Darcy Brown

Slava Gregorian at Leavers

I've always loved classical guitar and I try to see guitar performances whenever I can. I've seen Slava Gregorian play numerous times at the Melbourne Recital Centre and at the Art Gallery of Ballarat but he recently played in the regional town of Creswick, at Leavers Hotel. It's an intimate venue, as the pics show, and a perfect space for classical guitar to be heard as the instrument makes such an intimate sound.  

My partner, Deborah Klein, and I also had quite a nice meal there as well, so it made for a magical evening. 

All guitarists talk about the pieces they're about to play but Slava intersperses his introductions with funny comments as well. In a way that's a good thing because it often seems to me that classical music is often regarded as something ultra-serious and heavy when in reality it can be joyous and celebratory. If music is played by a musician who takes obvious pleasure in what he or she does, then it's easy to open one's mind and heart to it when it's introduced.

Photo credits -

1 & 4 - Shane Jones

 2 & 3 - Deborah Klein.

Charles Nodrum 40th Year Anniversary

The 40th Anniversary of the Charles Nodrum Gallery was celebrated recently with an exhibition of gallery artists. Many of the artists were photographed in front of their artwork so this is me with my painting Light and the Cinema.

Deborah Klein took the photograph but she also took a fun pic of the gallery photographer, Louie, taking a pic of me. Charles Nodrum Gallery represents a mixture of artistic styles and the last pic shows a nude by David Warren and a Self Portrait by Tom Alberts.

It was a wonderful evening with the Nodrum family giving some very entertaining and heart felt speeches. A pregnant Kate Nodrum, Charles' daughter and manager of the gallery, commented that maybe one day in the future her soon to be daughter might be celebrating another 40th year anniversary. That would be amazing.

 

Drawing on Light and Air advertisement

 

One of the tasks with having an exhibition is that you need to advertise. This is the full page add that will be in the Spring edition of ARTIST PROFILE magazine. Kate Nodrum, the manager of Charles Nodrum Gallery, designed six versions for an advertisement and this is the one that's to be showcased.

It's hard to say how affective advertising is in regard to sales, but at least to have your work in the public eye can't hurt! You never know who might peruse an art magazine down the track,

My Invitation

 

My invitation to my next exhibition has been printed and I'm very pleased with the result. It's A5 in size, and I think this format is a modest but elegant dimension and it's amazing what you can get onto a small format.

The text reads as follows - 

Many of the ideas for these paintings were inspired by the environs of Ballarat and my walking through the rooms of my home. Sometimes it takes time to be aware that what surrounds you can end up becoming a painting. When the time is right, one can see the possibilities.

Some of the paintings were worked from life, others were painted in the studio from memory, but all of them are inventions that aim to connect with our world while at the same time being separate from our everyday reality.

For me, distances are more compelling to paint than things seen close-up. The vastness of a landscape beckons the eye to explore something beyond one's immediate attention. It's like space has its own mystery.

Occasionally the compositions of my paintings verge on formal abstraction, but this is not always deliberate, because something seen can instantly, and without thought, be presented to the eye and mind in an abstract way.

My main aim is to create images that are contained within their own light and air and contain a sense of quietude, a quality that transcends story-telling, the paint itself and its subject matter.

Charles Nodrum 40th Year Celebration

Charles Nodrum is currently celebrating his 40 years as a director of his name sake gallery Charles Nodrum Gallery in Richmond. It's also 20 years since I had my first exhibition at the gallery, so you could say it's a double anniversary. I'm also having my 6th exhibition there soon, titled Drawing on Light and Air, and I hope, with many more to come. 

I have always admired the paintings of a kiss by Gustave Klimt and Edward Munch and this painting gave me an opportunity to picture a kiss. It is a still from the film Cinema Paradiso (1988) directed by Guiseppe Tornatore but I wanted the main subject of the painting to be light, especially since light is what gives us the cinematic experience.

The painting (below) is included in an exhibition to mark this 40th year celebration along with many works by gallery artists. It will be an amazing opening with so many people expected and I hope the building will be large enough to contain the crowd! 

Charles Nodrum website has a detailed history of Charles and his career in the arts and it's an interesting read. 

Light and the Cinema, 2023, oil on canvas, 61.25 x 76.25 cm

Raindrops

The larger painting of raindrops was done as a variation of the smaller one. I wanted more rain on the water which demanded a larger format. The circles in the larger painting have been disturbed slightly by the movement of the water, as if to suggest that the rain has started in earnest. The larger painting was done entirely in the studio but simplified somewhat as the circular waves created by the raindrops are too complicated to observe. The smaller version was simplified too although it was painted en plein air. I don't think I would have done the studio version if I had not painted raindrops on water from life as this gave me an understanding of what to do in the second version.  

Raindrops on the Lake, 2024, oil on linen, 61 x 101.75 cm

 

Raindrops, 2020, oil on panel, 40 x 40 cm

Bushfire Smoke

It was during last summer that I was walking my cat, Alice, around the backyard. As soon as we walked out of the back door, I noticed how strange the colour of the grass was, a tint of orange washed over the green. I looked up at one point and stared directly at the sun and saw a yellow disc with a red ring on its perimeter. How was this possible I thought? But it was the smoke from a distant bushfire making its way across Ballarat which acted as filter so I could look directly at it. 

After our walk, I went into the studio and painted the sun and some clouds while my memory was still fresh and the next day I began to add more clouds and a hill which was painted en plein air. The small group of trees was something I also saw peering just over the hill so I put those in too. Sometimes, when painting en plein air you can notice something that you would not necessarily have imagined, like those trees. I added more colours over time, trying to choose the colours that would express something of what occurred that day.

Like all of my paintings, the images that you see are constructions of what I saw and experienced based on memories, imagination and observation. You could never record them with a camera because they never existed.

Bushfire Smoke, 2024, oil on linen, 35.75 x 50.75 cm