David, some of my more recent paintings below (and one’s that I’ve particularly been pleased about because I’m trying to worry less about the image and more about the idea I’m exploring)
The biggest thing I am trying to move away from in my work is being tied to just painting what I see in a photo but rather, doing what the painting needs (which of course you are the expert at!).
I’d also love for there to be more evidence of my working process in the work, that’s an idea I am trying to explore next.
“self portrait with Vonnegut and Schiele” 100x75cm
In this self-portrait, I wanted to capturewhatitis like living with two vivacious parrots, particularly atbath time. Schiele, my female parrot, will demand I run both the shower and the sink so she can alternate between the two, drying herself on my hair and the hand-towel in between. Meanwhile Vonnegut the male, will patiently wait until it is his turn.
Keeping the birds out of the bathroom while I painted this from life was challenging. There’s varied shadow directions as I painted at different times of the day to accomodate my birds’ self-imposed schedule. I also had to move the painting out of the bathroom several times a week so they could shower.
Finalist - Brisbane Portrait Prize 2023
Finalist - Portia Geach Memorial Award 2024
Finalist - Evelyn Chapman Scholarship Award 2024
“Barn owl with Dahlias” 130x100cm
This work was constructed from life. I ordered the flowers from a local flower farm, who cut them fresh that morning and then I raced for the next 3 days to paint the blooms before they wilted. I wanted to create the challenge of speed painting a large artwork with the hopes it would help me to loosen up my style, which I believe it did.
“Isla and Edie brushing Cody” 105 x 140cm
In this piece I wanted to give myself the challenge of painting a scene in a cramped space to see how that would dictate a composition.. The stable was narrow, meaning I could not fit Cody the horse in one photo. So the composition was constructed from multiple photo references, each with different perspectives and vanishing points, which you can see a little evidence of in the plywood walls and dark blue door. I wish I pushed this idea a little further and showed more of the fragmented scene, but I’ll work on that next time!
“Poppy and Willow” 130x100cm
This is a painting of two sisters, the daughters of my dear friends, depicted in their garden with their chickens. In this work I wanted to experiment with depth within a 2D plane, encouraging the eye to draw into the depth of the background but at the same time creating flat elements to stop the eye abruptly from receding but rather, keeping the eye moving around the foreground. In doing, different planes were created in a theatrical way like backdrops on a stage spaced at intervals.
I am very much interested in how I as an artist can control the viewers eye, moving it around the painting in the order that I choose, in an orchestrated fashion using tones, colours and shapes.
Finalist in Wollumbin Art Prize 2024