I am happy to report that I have been selected as a finalist in both the 2023 John Villiers Outback Art Prize (Outback Regional Gallery 11 March – 7 May 2023) and in the 2023 Muswellbrook Art Prize, painting section (27 February – 29 April 2023).
Before that……late in 2022, I was a finalist in 2022 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, contemporary section:
Covid comforts. I worked on small mixed media works during the 2021 lockdowns and on the occasional large work (some still in progress).
Stormy Weather series
Each of the small works has a torn edge and is float mounted with a dark timber frame. the two larger works are float mounted with a limed timber frame. All are mixed media on Hahnemuhle paper. Unless otherwise indicated, all are for sale.
Wangaratta Watercolours
Out of the storm and into the calm.
A very short escape to the outskirts of Wangaratta on the Ovens River in Victoria resulted in some small watercolours painted en plein air. All are WN watercolour and graphite on Magnani paper and all are float mounted and framed with thin dark timber, with the exception of “Unsettled Landscape”, which has a limed timber frame. All are for sale.
Peachy Beachy works
Randomly chosen and reworked. Each is gouache and Sennelier ink on paper and each measures 13 x 18 cm. Each is float mounted and framed with a limed timber frame.
As the year moved on, my work got calmer.
Postcards from the Beach
All of these works are float mounted and framed in a dark grey timber frame. They work well as a set but could be displayed separately. They were all started one long weekend at Greenwell Point on NSW south coast and finished in 2021 in my studio. They are pastel and gouache on Khadi paper. Each work measures 11 x 15 cm.
Finally, back to the Gymea Lily
The Gymea Lily is a magnificent, majestic primeval flower that towers above the ground and is found mostly on the east coast of NSW, especially around Sydney. It has sword-like leaves more than 1 metre long and it grows a flower spike up to 6 metres high. They are beautiful!
I tied this lily to an easel with its stem dipping into a bucket of water, and over 3 weeks, I drew it. I was keen to incorporate the slow opening of the flower over time and to capture that within one drawing. That first drawing traces the slow changes that the lily was starting to go through.
This work is framed with a generous sized neutral mount and a plain matte black frame. Total dimensions are 140 x 106 cm.
Then, as time went on, another work was created. This watercolour is float mounted and box framed in a dark red /brown timber frame.
Finally, to end the year, this watercolour of the lily was created with gusto. Good bye 2021!