Juxtapoz

Juxtapoz magazine issue 118, November 2010, page 24. Exciting!!

plants from life

One thing I love about older paintings is that they don't look like they were done from photos. I've realised that I like the non-photo aesthetic and so have started trying to draw more from life where I can. Mostly I've been drawing plant-life from small clippings and pot plants. So far it's working well. During the day I go for a walk and scout out the various plants hanging over fences or by the train track, then go back at night (under the cover of darkness :) with a pair of scissors.

If I had my own garden I think I would use it to cultivate plants specifically for the purpose of drawing them.

Sequoia National Park

While I was in the US I took a greyhound bus up north to visit the sequoias. I'm so glad I did it, I have been wanting to visit this park for so long and it didn't disappoint. I was only at the park for one full day but did the major sites - the giant forest, general sherman (largest tree in the world), moro rock and the crescent meadow.


giant sequoia tree


meadow in the giant forest


bear cubs in the meadow


cutie!


deer

Opening Night

I arrived back in Melbourne early yesterday Morning. Los Angeles was awesome. I got to attend lots of show openings which was exciting and quite the experience (next time I'm going to remember to bring some 4-inch heels - I was a bit of a fashion failure at a few of the shows in my t-shirt and 1-inch sandals). I also stocked up on cosmetics and art supplies because they are half the price of what we pay in Australia (!!!). And I got some socks to keep my feet warm in Melbourne's winter weather.

I took lots of photos but most importantly I want to share a few of the gallery space and opening night at LeBasse Projects.















I'd like to thank the gallery owners Beau and Christine for looking after me while I was in LA and really going above and beyond what a gallery needs to. They made my time in LA both comfortable and exciting. And also to Yosk and Nate for letting me crash in their studio for a few days at the end of the trip. Thanks guys!

It was also great to meet the other artists who were sharing the gallery space with me for the show - J. Shea and Morgan Slade, it was great meeting them both and getting to check out their work in person.

The show is open 'til August 7 so if you're in LA there is still time to check it out.

Botanica

Only 2 weeks until the show opens. I'm calling the show "Botanica". It's one of those words that isn't a real word but if you google it everyone uses it anyway. I made this web invite for the fun of it. Next week I fly to LA - exciting!

Right now I'm working on some drawings, mostly in black ink. I'm feeling inspired by wood engravings and all the intricate line work and patterning they get from the carving process. I was going to try wood engraving myself, but found out that they are mostly very small, where as I wanted to do something big. So ink on paper it is.

Packed up paintings

Last week I finished my paintings for the show at LeBasse Projects opening July 17th 2010. I'm feeling excited about this show and will be flying to LA to attend the opening, so if you're in LA please come and visit. If you want to be on the preview list for the show please email the gallery. More details about the show to come later.

Today everything was packed up and sent. The packing took me 5 hours! I'm so happy everything is done.

Moths Print Release

Moths print is now available from Paper Tiger.

Title: Moths
Edition Size: 25
Print Size: 12" x 14.25"

Signed and Numbered Edition Print
Printed on Archival textured fine art paper

Kangaroos

Prints coming soon! I've just finished signing these and have posted them back to the US, they will be available from Paper Tiger, but not yet. I don't know when but I'm sure it will be soon. All proceeds go towards a plane ticket to LA so that I can attend the exhibition I'm in at LeBasse Projects in July :)

A few weeks ago I was in Bright for an autumn break. Bright is a pretty alpine town around 4 hrs drive from Melbourne. This was where we stayed:


And this was the view out the kitchen window at dusk:


Wild kangaroos hanging out on the grass! I took a really short (9 second) video of the kangas hopping around:

LeBasse Projects Gallery: Showcase SF

This weekend is the showcase with LeBasse Projects in San Fransisco. You can see all the works in the show here on the gallery website. The show is short and only runs 'til Sunday so if you're in San Fransisco you only have this weekend to catch it.

More info is on this e-invite:


Here are my paintings for the show, all 30x24" (big for me) and oil on canvas (a nice smooth canvas that I stretched myself). Thanks again to Neil for taking the photos of my paintings.


Cat and Mouse


Moths


Rabbit


Bird


I've been looking for photos of the show on the net, there are a whole lot on flickr and I found this one with my paintings in it:

Sherbrooke Forest

One of my favourite places to drive to is Sherbrooke Forest in the Dandenong Ranges (around an hour out of Melbourne). I take lots of photos when I go and I've been trying for a while to work out how to get the forest into my paintings. I've been finding it difficult because I'm not sure how much realism and how much abstraction to use, I also know it will make my paintings take much longer to create with so much detail. I might make it one of my goals for the year to figure it all out.

Here are a few photos I've taken. The tall misty trees in the background are Australian Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) which according to wikipedia is the tallest flowering tree species in the world.

These two photos were taken on the edge of Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens/Sherbrooke Forest.