ART AID FOR GIPPSLAND - Fundraising Exhibition and Auction for Bushfire Relief

The whole of Australia experienced catastrophic bushfires from late 2019 and this has continued into the summer of 2020. Many organisations have raised money to aid those who have suffered great loss as a consequence of the fires. 

Simon Gregg, director of Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, has organised an art auction to raise money to help those who are in need. He invited artists to donate one or two works to be auctioned on 15th March after an exhibition of selected works from 15 Feb - 15 March at the gallery, an undertaking that is both inspiring and enormous. For more information about the auction, see HERE

The generosity from artists has been so great that no more donations can be accepted! What a  remarkable response. 

The two paintings below are my donations to the cause and let's hope the auction yields something beyond our imagination.

Untitled #53, 1999. oil on canvas, 91 x 61 cm

Untitled #96, 2002, oil on canvas, 91 x 61 cm

The Great Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris

Notre Dame, Paris, 1993, oil on paper

This oil wash drawing was done in Paris in 1993. My partner, Deborah Klein, had a residency at the Cite des Internationale and I stayed with her for six weeks. It was a fantastic experience because it has been the only time when I have been overseas that I was able to work at my art. We had a number of excellent views of Paris from the window and this drawing was done from there. 

The technique was inspired by Degas' oil wash sketches, applied so thinly it looks almost like an ink or water colour sketch. 

The tragedy of the 2019 fire still lingers since Notre Dame is one of the greatest art works ever created. Fortunately it has not been lost and much was saved that might have been turned to ashes.

Drawing Gaye

Gaye Britt, 2019, pencil, 52.25 x 41 cm

It's not often that you get to draw someone with closed eyes, but it's a great subject to do. For me it's like Gaye has removed herself from the world and dwells in a region unknown to others. 

I thought about how I would draw Gaye sometime before the sitting but when she arrived she suggested she could listen to music and I thought it was a great idea. Sometimes the sitter can make a suggestion that gives a drawing a different and refreshing perspective.

Music at Yandoit

Every year during Summer there is a music festival throughout Ballarat and the surrounding townships. Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields features many musicians but not necessarily organists only. The diversity of musicianship bought two great international musicians to the town of Yandoit - Massimo Scattolin on classical guitar and Paolo Tagliamento on violin. They performed at the local Uniting Church and presented a program of music by Paganini, Giuliani, Sarasate and Monti. What amazing players they are and the wonderful thing about it is that although they come from different generations, age is of no consequence where music is performed. Massimo is the older of the two but when you see them perform, the respect they have for each other is obvious. 

It was also great to be able to purchase a CD of the same music they performed at the concert and have each musician autograph the disc.

 The poster says it all

Paolo signing the disc and Massimo looking on