Oooo, better shot of the work!

Ok this is a closer shot of my paintings, really like the way they appeared on the wall (once again photo credits must go to Rachale Lee)

Exhibition photo

Well, the work finally hit the walls at the Bad Exposed Exhibition. These are my little offerings. (Photo - big thanks to Rachael Lee!) The gallery is a great venue and amazingly fit all the work. Opening night was huge - could there ever be too many people?!

will post individual images of the rest of the work next.

Tick, Tick... time is of the essence

Ok, work has to be in tomorrow and I am still putting final details in. Really I just never know when to stop. How many glazes have I put on??? who knows, but there is always room for just one mote. Just photographed this one and it is finished (I think). Light is painful and I am hoping to take better photos in the gallery. jewel box - oil on cotton canvas - 30cm x 30cm - 2010

Bad light this morning, but took photo anyway

This is anothoer one of my submissions. The light today wasnt the best and it really hasn't show the luminosity of this piece. There are so many layers on this one - it's like it's never finished but maybe now that I say it is, it will be.

fish scales - 30cm x 30cm - oil on cotton canvas - 2010

Submissions for the show

I have decided to submit 8 small pieces for the interior of the exhibition. I am not sure whether all will be hung but I shall endeavour to document them here and see how it all goes - space permitting. horse skull - oil on cotton canvas - 30cm x 30cm - 2010

Window piece for Bad Exposed Exhibition

Have decided (finally) on which piece I will put into the window Percolator Gallery. I did this work last year and it is a jumping off point for a series of large works that are basically dialogues about specific emotions. I will go into this in more detail at a later date, but each emotion became a "phrase" - for want of a better word. "I said it was for you, but I suspect it was for myself" - 30cm x 30cm - oil on Belgium linen - 2009

Artist Statement- time to review myself

Ok needed to review my artist statement for the BAD Exhibition comming up. Oh the pain of reviewing and thinking! I think it is because I normally just do what I do, and "thinking" about the how and why don"t much play into it. Sure, I think, and sometimes way too much but its usually about the individual work, not the whole. So, here is what I have come up with :

Translucency

SPACES crevices

These are paintings of what can't necessarily be seen - the spaces inbetween. Those slippery, etheral crevices that could best be described as "Gaps in the known".

That "just out of sight, just around the corner, just behind, on the tip of your tongue" feeling.

The subject matter is simply the vehicle, the tool or the door.

Veiling repeatedly with thin layers of colour, covering up to allow one to see. Building up the surface slowiy and gradually. I paint what is, to evoke what isn't, teethering on the precipice of the sublime.

It's about those things that are hard to catch...

and even harder to hold onto.

BAD Exposed Exhibition invitation

Not sure if this is "readable" hmmmm. Needless to say the important details are that the exhibition is at Percolator Gallery, 134 Latrobe Tce, Paddington, Brisbane. Opening night is Friday 18th June at 6:30pm, and the exhibition runs until 27th June. All the other artists are very cool. When I work out how I wil put up links to their webs and blogs.

Delinquent Possum spoils todays plans

Well today I was going to stop reminissing for a bit and chat about what I am doing right now - for the BAD EXPOSED Exhibition etc, but last night I got so very little sleep that I can hardly string a sentence together let alone take some photos of my work.

Went to bed last night and was woken at about 1am by a possum that had got itself lost in my verandah room. Well, this young fella was very cute, for about 10mins until he started destroying the room. Knocking down curtain rods, tossing stuff around. He just couldn't find his way out of the open window so I decided to go in and open a few more. I didn't realize that Ash (very small grey cat) had followed me in to see what I was doing. He spotted young Mr Possum and immediately blew up like a puffer fish and tore agross the room like a wild bear. I went after him to save said possum, who proptly ran between my legs into my bedroom. I was left holding Ash who was going crazy so I put him in the wardrobe and set about looking for my visitor. After much searching I located him downstairs clinging to the panes in my big front window. I opened all the doors and it was cold last night! With all the doors open Myz (dog) decided that she needed to help me with this problem. Of course she was no help at all and added to the drama. No matter what I did possum wouldn't budge. He finally (no, not really finally) moved and attached himself to Ewan's surfboard which was in the corner and I clumsily manouvered it to the open door. He kind of fell onto the floor in front of the door but instead of going out there he ran past it and behind my lounge. A very big UGH from me. Much more time passed (where I considered the notion that I really do live in a circus) but I could not get him to leave so I gave up and left the door open and went to bed (sometime after 3am). The possum won this round for sure and I am cactus for the today.

where is my studio???

Studio update!
Finally (only after a year) we have the plans through council. I have proper drawings but think that my rather simplified version is more clear cut. The next thing to do is empty the "old" shed of KB's stuff - and there is alot of stuff - and store it somewhere. Then we can knock down the old bunker . Then truely it should be easy. It's a simple building so... lets see how long it takes. This is why I am so disorganised at present. I put heaps of stuff away ages ago and well, things did not go according to my plan. Fingers crossed.

rockwall no.12 - desire

rockwall no.12 desire - oil on canvas - 101cm x 101cm - 2007

rockwall no.11 - longing

rockwall no.11 longing - oil on canvas (4 panels) - 153cm x 76cm (total) - 2007

rockwall no. 10 - fissure

rockwall no.10 fissure - silverleaf, oil on canvas - 101cm x 101cm - 2007

rockwall no. 8 - texture like sun

rockwall no.8 texture like sun - oil on canvas - 101cm x 101cm - 2006

rockwall no.7 - bruised

rockwall no. 7 bruised - oil on canvas - 76cm x 51cm - 2006

rockwall no. 6 - bleeder

rockwall no.6 bleeder - oil on canvas - 76cm x 51cm - 2005

rockwall no. 5 - rift

rockwall no. 5 rift - oil on canvas - 76cm x 51cm - 2007

rockwall no.4 - precious

On my painting notes I have written tedious! It took a long, long time. Turpsy washes, goldleaf. silverleaf, sometimes put on so carefully then scraped off with a steak knife. Spidery edges glazed - removed - and glazed again. Finally a glowing jewelbox. "Butter wouldn't melt in its mouth" - if it had a mouth I mean. Oooo see how personal they get. Annoying and pleasing all at once, just like children

rockwall no. 4 precious - gold & silverleaf, oil on canvas - 76cm x 51cm - 2007

rockwall no. 3 - temporary quiet

There was nothing quiet about its beginnings. This painting did not want to be created and so many times I put it out of sight. Then one day it was done. Again it has a luminesence reminiss of stained glass. It is peaceful, quiet and cool. There must be 40 layers of very thin paint and glazes on this one.
rockwall no.3 temporary quiet - oil on canvas - 76cm x 51cm - 2007

rockwall no. 2 - pink

Pink doesn't relate to the singer (alto' I have nothing against her - in fact I think she is a solid role model for girls in general) just the overall colours that appeared when I started painting the beginning turpsy washes. Some parts looked like pink sandstone so I left them alone and I rather like them. The outline looked a little "cartoon-y" to me at first and annoyed me but I became happy with the outcome. It looks a little like stained glass and when I was working on it I had the feeling that it was really quite old... gothic? maybe, something I just can't put my finger on
rockwall no.2 pink - oil on canvas - 76cm x 51cm - 2005

So... back to Secret of the Rockwall

So, this was the first painting that actually related to the following series. It started out as an observational drawing of an actual rockwall. When it finally became a painting it fought constantly with me, thats when I went back to my glazing techniques that I had learnt so long before but they came back to me and things fell into place. I called it Secret fo the Rockwall because it finally told me what to do.
Secret of the Rockwall - oil on canvas - 76cm x 51cm - 2004

About the Polaroids

So now I am thinking I should show you some stuff from before Catalyst. This is where my altered polaroids cane into play. I also liked the tactility of chicken wire and leather. All these came into play in Golden Brown and Pour je suis les fruites de la mer and this is as far back as I want to go, I think, to make this all relate and somehow come together to explain where my work is right now. Yeay!

Further back...

Wow, this really makes you start to think. If I wanted to look backwards so that I can look forwards then I have to go a little further back. I think the Catalyst Exhibition is a good starting point. There is a painting there that pre-dates the Rockwall series but was probably another trigger in the big picture (The Glimmer) . Really need a better photo.

I also showed the last of my Urban Houswives I still have a soft spot for them. They related to my facination with polaroids - such a pity that they have discontinued making the film. I loved the immediate-ness and the colours were so vivid. You really can't get the same effect with digital. That said, I wish I had had a digital camera earlier to record my work.

It was then that I realised that I paint bodies like landscapes, and my landscapes I paint like you would paint bodies. I dont know if that makes sense of not. I also showed The Harbinger and he is a classic example of this. I always loved life drawing - but never the whole body - just the bits that took my fancy...

Looking backwards to go forwards

Ok, had a long think last night abut what I would put into this blog and decided to take a little look backwards. Secret of the Rockwall led me to wonder why this painting was so important to me, so I looked at old work, and there they were... in painting after painting, and drawing after drawing, rocks in one form or another. I was working with Majena Mafe at the time and she encouraged me to investigate. I remembered when I was really little that I would have the same bad dream for years. Too hard to explain in words so I painted a series of small works in oil on canvas...

The Rockwall Series

This is work that has led to where I am right now. I thought I was finished with it.... but no I am clearly not as I look at the work I am doing for the up and comming BAD EXPOSED exhibition. Similar - but not the same. The first work in the series : Secret of the Rockwall is where it all began..

Up and running..

First post to get this show on the road - not sure what Myz thinks of it all!