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Painting Gallery
Includes paintings from 1997 to the present.
About the work
Painting has always been a personal and private passion, however, for the past 15 years I have been exhibiting paintings in commercial galleries and had a number of significant one-man painting shows. Whilst painting is not a planned career change, I regard it as a significant addition to my development as a complete artist. It does not replace or impede my work as a ceramic artist, on the contrary, it enhances the creative process by introducing new elements to my work such as colour and pictorial expression.
In my paintings, rather than attempt to paint the scenery as it is, I attempt to absorb the feel of the environment and return to the relative distance and comfort of my studio to paint from the experience. I find that the memories are often all the more poignant in the recalling of them rather than trying to capture the scene on location. The act of recreating pictures in the studio is an exciting revelation in the re-living of the journey.
Details tend to appear more sketchy in the memory and the subjects, therefore, tend to be depicted with minimal information, inviting the viewer to interpret the scene and to share the mysteries.
Each year, for quite a number of years now, I return to Italy with my partner, hosting small groups on arts/cultural programmes in Rome, Orvieto and Florence (see www.discoveringitaly.com) and also continue to work on collaborative pieces in ceramics with celebrated Italian maiolica artist, Marino Moretti in Umbria.
Over that time, I have also continued to research material for my paintings and have had a number of successful exhibitions in Australia with the resulting paintings, always on the theme of Italian architectural form and textures.
From March 2007, I will spend a two-year period in Italy concentrating on developing these paintings and the subject matter further with the intent of exhibiting in Rome, in Umbria and in Australia on my return.
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