William Clough Valley (1)

The next batch of blogs will focus on my early work. Those of you who have been following my blog may remember that in my first post I mentioned that in 2006, on a visit back to the UK when I was staying with my Mum for a while, I picked up her pastels and did a painting. This is that first painting.

The subject, William Clough Valley in Derbyshire, came from the trusty book of Peak District photos. Although it is quite simplistic in style it was enough of a likeness to the photo to inspire me to take up art again.

By comparing this painting with my latest work (the cat portrait below) you can get an idea of how my style has developed over the last four years.

What’s new pussycat? (62)

Sorry for the long delay between posts – I’ve recently returned from an unexpected trip to the UK. This is my latest painting and my first pet portrait. I decided to do it as a present for my brother-in-law who celebrated a birthday a couple of weeks ago while I was in the UK.

I couldn’t think of anything to buy him so decided to paint him a portrait of his favourite cat, Sweep. Mum claimed she had taken a photo of Sweep some weeks before, so I printed it off and set to work. Sweep has very unusual and pretty markings and I worked hard to get them right. When it was finished I was confident it was a reasonable likeness.

However, when John opened his present he looked bemused and asked whose cat it was.
“It’s Sweep, your cat,” I said, amazed that he couldn’t tell.
“But Sweep doesn’t have any white on his face,” John said.
At that moment, Sweep came into the room and John picked him up so I could see. And he didn’t.

So whose cat had Mum taken the photo of? That remains to be discovered. It certainly looks similar to Sweep … but not similar enough! So my first pet portrait worked at an artistic level but not on the most important level – an exact likeness to the subject.

Shane 2009 (59)

Had to post my latest painting as I’m pretty excited about it. This is my first portrait and I’m really pleased how it turned out. It’s of my nephew, Shane, who was three at the time the photo was taken. He’s very cute and his rosy cheeks come from growing up on a farm and playing outside.

Pembokeshire coast (8)

This painting is another scene from a photograph I took when walking the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path in 2006. This was one of the first pieces I painted in Australia, at a time when I had a limited choice of pastels.

It was quite a complex picture and I had difficulty getting the angles right for the cliffs falling to the sea. The result is rather abstract and looks to me as though a lumpy quilt has been laid out over the peninsula … but I like the quirky feel of this painting.

Pinnacles, WA (28)

Another photo from a tourist brochure inspired this painting of the Pinnacles, located about three hours north of Perth near Cervantes. Thousands of unusually shaped limestone rocks rise up to 3 metres from the sand like ancient ruins. They are believed to have been created from seashells which were broken down into sand and then eroded by water and wind.

The Pinnacles Desert is best seen at dawn or dusk when the rocks, which have been likened to tombstones, termite mounds and even fingers, cast long, eerie shadows over the rippling yellow sand dunes. Although I faithfully reproduced the scene, the uniqueness of the subject matter led to a rather abstract-looking painting.

Cosy Corner, Albany (7)

I came across this scene of Cosy Corner near Albany in a book of photos of Western Australia and loved the delicate pastel colours and the simplicity of the composition. I also liked the fact that I didn’t need many different colours, as this was one of my earlier paintings and I didn’t have a large collection of pastels at that time!

I painted on the grainy side of the pastel paper as an experiment and used pink pastel paper. If you look closely you can see pink flecks showing through - I quite like the effect.

Chain of Lagoons, Tasmania (10)

While staying with friends in Bridgetown one Christmas I was flicking through their outgoing calendar of Tasmania when I spotted this picture. The scene really inspired me so I got my pastels out (luckily I’d taken them with me) and got cracking. It came together really quickly and I’d finished it before dinner!

The angular rocks, solid clouds and strong colours give this painting an abstract feel.