Reflections, Silver and Green, 2023, oil on linen, 71.5 x 71.5 cm.
Reflections on water are, for me, one of the trickiest things to paint. They are constantly changing so the general rhythms and colours on the water are the best way to express them. I could have just taken a photograph and painted from that, but somehow, not using a camera is like an invitation and a challenge to come up with something that a camera can't capture.
In this painting, I added more trees than there are in the scene. When I started to paint, I realised that most of the dark reflections were made by taller trees in the background but I didn't want them in the picture as there would have been too many of them, so to get a lot of darkness in the water, I extended the reflections of the five trees to suit the composition. The painting below was also done at the same spot so the actual view shows the deviation a composition can inspire compared to what is there.
The Quiet of Winter, 2021, oil on canvas, 66.5 x 66.5 cm.
The actual view where these two paintings were based on.
I've always loved Vermeer's painting of Delft and those reflections on the water. Every time I drive around Lake Wendouree and see trees reflected in the dark water on a grey day, it reminds me of the Vermeer painting. You can see the simplification Vermeer adopted to render the water. His picture was at the back of my mind when I painted Reflections, Silver and Green.
View of Delft, 1659-1661, oil on canvas, 98 x 1180 cm.
