Paintings For Sale
Plein air and Studio Landscapes
Paintings from the MacDonnell Ranges, Central Australia
The Red Centre holds a unique position in the psyche and mythology of all Australians. These paintings enable you to journey with me as I connect with and explore the majesty and extremes of the desert.
Deserts have long been spaces of encounter and challenge, places that seem limitless through which we experience our own physical and metaphysical limits. In the desert wilderness we can inhabit solitude and silence, connecting with ourselves, others, nature and the path of dreaming. At a time of unprecedented focus on what it means to be an Australian inhabiting this land, when the impacts of climate change are being felt across both urban and non-urban communities, where people are experiencing less connection with nature, greater social and physical isolation and increased reliance on technology, these paintings invite a reconsideration of the importance of the Central deserts.
Falling Upwards Paintings
The paintings in this series explore the experience of falling to rise, of the relationship between intimacy and ultimacy, the longing of the human spirit to find meaning in suffering and create beauty from grit. I am reminded of the powerful words of Nelson Mandela, "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
Paintings from the Warrumbungles and Closer to Home
Traveling to Warrumbungle and Wollemi National Parks to paint was a journey both into and beyond my comfort zone. The natural beauty and majesty of the place was enthralling. I felt joy and contentment on my hikes, watching birds flit and call, noticing the texture of bark, and the colour of rock and lichen. I felt compelled to create, but surprisingly, after initially painting the astounding rock formations and the views, my attention was drawn elsewhere. I began instead, to paint the less distinctive, yet still remarkable - the cloud cascades in the evening sky, the still stands of trees that seemed to beckon me like sentinels.
Paintings from Capertee Valley and the Blue Mountains
These oil paintings depict ancient valleys, still trees and fleeting moments in nature. The tiny alla prima sky paintings are painted swiftly to enhance the gestural spontaneity of the mark-making and evoke the constantly changing colours and forms in the sky. These works contrast with images of dense bushlands, painstakingly developed over weeks, that seem to both resist entry and invite the viewer to become entangled in their deep space. The former act as portals to expansive space, carrying you, the viewer, towards other-worldliness while the bush landscapes invite you to experience your relationship to the earth. They metaphorically enfold or entice you in a grounded, intimate and mystical experience. The plein air paintings were made outdoors in various locations around the Blue Mountains and in the Capertee Valley. They evoke the majesty and grandeur of those places, capturing their primeval stillness, and the shifting light and colours in sure, rapidly applied brushstrokes.
Lagoons are mystical places of tranquillity and transition. Shifting sands, soft muddy banks, spiky reeds and fossicking water birds. They are home to an abundance of creatures, often small and inconspicuous, yet essential to the intricate web of life. The sweep of water and sky invite us to drift and float, while the trees ground us, both connecting us to the steady pulse of our own heart and the rhythm of our breath.
Evoking the Elements
These paintings explore and interpret the imagery, energy and elemental themes of selected piano compositions by composers such as Debussy, Ravel and Chaminade. Earth, air, fire and water, and nature’s processes, captivate and compel me to paint. Every day as I walk through the bush in the lower Blue Mountains I see beauty, decay and renewal - the effects of elemental forces. They constantly create change and adaption. I witness nature seeking equilibrium and balance and offering metaphors for life. Trees flooded, nevertheless, reach for the sky; verdant new shoots flourish from a fire-blackened trunk; autumn leaves fall to sustain life… each occurrence seems to express joy, hope, loss and longing - allegories represented in my paintings.
