I have a secret garden, it’s often there I stay

Find beauty not only in the thing itself but how it makes you feel.  Vivid flowers and sunlight reflecting on foliage create a magical place, a secret garden where you can dream of wondrous things.

For this garden I have used bright yellows, oranges and vivid reds and pinks for the flowers; earthy shades of green for the foliage then I introduced splashes of turquoise and yellow ochre to complete the piece. Maybe I included the odd bee or butterfly!

I constantly start my pieces with multiple layers of under-colour boldly placed onto the canvas.  The aim is to create depth and mystery to the artwork.  I then add brush loads of muted colour to provide an interesting background to support the flowers and leaves; then these enchanting colours are touched by the sun, always the star of the show. Acrylic paint on stretched canvas, sealed with a coat of high gloss varnish.

Unaware

Unaware

Acrylic on stretched canvas

91cm x 91cm x 4cm

I have a strong connection to the ocean and water; therefore, I have used water as the medium for my Narrative Piece ‘Unaware’.

Narrative art tells a story, either as a moment in an ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time.  This piece is my impression on how the world was prior to the Corona virus – ‘unaware’ of the danger lurking.  

We lived our life with exuberance, travelled the world, shared our experiences with friends and entertained freely. Life was good and we embraced the world in all its diversity.  

Maybe we should have taken note of what our planet was trying to tell us – our environment is in danger!

My little fisherman (representing the world’s inhabitants) is happily floating out on the ocean; however, he suddenly finds himself caught on the top a large wave (the world’s serious environmental issues) yet still he is not too concerned.  He is ‘unaware’ of the danger coming, a large whale rising from the deep – corona in full force.

I hope you enjoy my Narrative piece.

Vigilance

Vigilance

This piece was my entry in the 2020 Border Art Prize.

Background to the piece:

We each have a Spirit Animal that guides or protects us on our life journey and whose characteristics we share or embody.  The Spirit Animal helps us remain true to ourselves, our voice and our vision.

My woman’s Spirit Animal is the Owl which does not tolerate illusion or secrets and allows her to become far more observant.  The Owl gives her “new” eyes with which to see, she looks into your soul and sees the real you.

With her Spirit Animal on her shoulder their eyes look straight at you, you cannot hide from their gaze.

Methodology:

Oil with cold wax medium on board.

Measurements: 81cm by 81cm by 5cm

This contemporary piece was created using myriad layers of oil paint to create the depth that I required in the background and the piece is filled with symbolism and meaning.  

Two of my new Timber Animal pieces sold today – Yeah!

Humpback whles migrating north.

red-tailed black cockatoo

Always makes me happy when someone appreciates my art and purchases a piece – or two! These were my latest pieces.

The first one is of Humpback Whales which are drawn to the Gold Coast every year as a winter playground. The large shallow bay provides an ideal location for the whales to rest and mingle during their annual 10,000 kilometre migration journey.
Over fifteen thousand whales pass close to shore near the Gold Coast as they round the easternmost corner of Australia on their way to and from the feeding grounds of Antarctica and the breeding grounds of Tropical Queensland.
Humpbacks are the most inquisitive and playful of the great whales and therefore a favourite with whale watchers. They are also famous show-offs and acrobats – often leaping clear of the ocean or slapping the surface with giant fins and tail flukes in awesome displays of grace and power. We always keep an eye out for these guys throughout our winter.

The whales were painted in acrylic on a piece of discarded wood when I visit the local Woodworkers Workshop. They are happy for me to select pieces from their discarded bin.

Nature is wonderful and I love the widely differing timber grain that can be found in each piece. This grain usually influences what I am going to do with each piece.
I saw a seascape in this piece and I have allowed the raw timber grain to show as the headland and island seen in the background.
The second piece is of a red-tailed black cockatoo also known as Banksian- or Banks’ black cockatoo. It is a large black cockatoo native to Australia. Adult males have a characteristic pair of bright red panels on the tail that gives the species its name. It is more common in the drier parts of the continent.

I paint Australian fauna and flora to raise their awareness as many species are declining and this is a disturbing trend.

Asian Beauty

Oil with cold wax medium on board.

Asian Beauty

Measurements: 81cm by 81cm

This is another contemporary and colourful piece is created using myriad scratched and gouged layers of oil paint and cold wax medium in a myriad of colours. 

I like to have fun and not always be serious when painting, hence this slightly off-centre piece. 

The initial background was made up of many colours laid down on the board.  I kept adding layers of colours which are scraped and gouged into the paint to allow the underneath layers to show through.  I did this for a while and then stopped, stood back and looked at what I had achieved so far. 

I use reflective time to allow me to get a feel of what is on the board.  I try to see if any image is emerging? 

In this instance I could see an Asian face, a lamp in front of a window, and a fan in the left-hand corner. So, I continued to work with these suggested images and I ended up with my Asian Beauty in her pretty dress holding a bunch of flowers.

She is beautiful and she is serene.

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Figures and Movement

PENTAX Image

Figures and Movement

Oil with cold wax medium on board.

Measurements: 81cm by 81cm

This contemporary and colourful piece is created using myriad scratched and gouged layers of oil paint in blue, yellow, orange and white.  The aim was to suggest many bodies in movement.  

This piece was inspired by all the active people I see whilst I’m at the gym.  My mantra these days is to use it or lose it, so I try to keep fit.

How many bodies can you see?

Are they working in the gym or running the streets?   A healthy body is a healthy mind!

Surfing at Laceys

PENTAX Image

Surfing at Laceys

Painted on Board

40 x 40cm x 2cm

I walk the beach at Lacey’s next door to the mouth of Currumbin Creek each day and I love to watch the surfers catching their waves.  Alongside Currumbin Creek, Lacey’s is a popular spot for serious surfers.

Painted in oil with cold wax medium on a cradled board. This is another piece in my Smaller Art Collection. I create these small pieces for those homeowners who do not have wall space for large pieces of art.  I believe everyone should live with art, I hope these small pieces enable them to live with art in their home.

Bitumen

PENTAX Image

Oil on canvas

Measurements: 121cm by 91cm

When we visited Tasmania, I immediately hit the bitumen.  Like a modern-day explorer, I use bitumen roads and highways to seek the natural beauty of Tasmania.  However, whilst these highways traverse and float over the land acting like a magic carpet to take me wherever I wish, combined with today’s ever-growing civilisation, they tend to mask the real Tasmania.

Method:

This piece is initially painted in many layers of blues greens oranges and purple to represent the colours of natural Tasmania – it’s beautiful trees, mountains, lakes, rivers and sky. 

This montage of colour is then covered in grey and white to represent today’s continual encroachment of buildings and development on the landscape.  Grey and white signifies tin, concrete and steel, all dull uninspiring colours.  Then over that, is painted harsh black to represent the bitumen. 

Tasmania’s natural beauty is hidden beneath civilisation. As we traverse the bitumen to get where we want to go, we must delve deep to see the natural Tasmania.  Look through the black, grey and white, it is there underneath, waiting to be discovered.

Up in the Treetops

I have been working on a very large canvas to go on the living room wall in our home. Our living room opens to the front balcony which is up among the treetops of a beautiful leopard tree and lovely poinsettia tree.  It is such a lovely retreat to sit on the deck and be surrounded by waiving leafy branches away from the rest of the world.

So when I was trying to decide on a suitable subject matter for this large painting, it took quite a while.  Did I want to do a colourful abstract? I wasn’t sure and as I don’t paint in a traditional style, a landscape was out.  One day whilst reading out on the deck, it finally dawned on me, paint my treetops!

I took some photos looking upwards into my treetops and then played around with them in Photoshop until I settled on a suitable composition.

First sketch the tree trunk and branches.

Then I had to paint in the tree canopy and all of the leaves.  This took quite a while until I was happy with the composition.

It was quite a task to hang this large painting as it had to be hung in a very high position above our staircase.   This involved ladders, tressels and the help of a builder;  however it is finally up and looks great.  What do you think?

 

New Etsy Shop for Children

I have just opened up my new AnimalFaces  Shop on Etsy which will feature animal art aimed initially for children’s nurseries. When you have a moment please visit and let me know what you think of it, just clink on the link below

AnimalFaces Etsy Shop

As everyone knows I love painting animals, especially Australian flora and fauna.  My friends are starting to call me the bird lady!

So for fun, I thought I would invent a Family of Australian Wood Ducks.  Where we lived on a canal, in our last house, we had these cheeky little fellas who used to swim up to our boundary and we greatly enjoyed feeding them and their little babies.

So I have created the McDuck Family.

Please meet Mr and Mrs McDuck and their 3 children – Tilly, Ellie and Liam.   Mum and Dad are very proud of their children; Tilly loves to shop (she particularly likes shoes and is always adding to her collection), Ellie loves the beach and is wearing her new polka dot bikini and Liam spends all his free time down at the skate park.

As times goes I imagine that I will introduce more members of the family eg Grandma and Grandpa and I’m sure that as the children grow, they will and have boy and girlfriends, get married, have children!

Over the years I see myself adding to these family portraits and maybe maybe writing a story about their lives.

I hope that children become to love them and would like them on the walls of their bedrooms.

I look forward to your feed back.