Fleur's coffee cups

Oil on canvas 53.5 x 56.5 cm   Sold

I acquired these cups from my friend Fleur, a fellow artist.

I was attracted to their intense colour and the roundness of the forms in contrast to the strong diagonals of the fabric. I love the challenge of composition.  It is such an abstract activity whereby the negative shapes and shadows take on as much importance as the objects.

I admire the work of Margaret Preston.

Hence, the title is partly a nod to Preston’s “Thea Procter’s tea party” but also a reference to the domestic nature of the still life.
Finalist in the Cowra Regional Art Gallery: Calleen Art Award 2010(pdf) Click to download catalogue

Narratives

Oil on canvas  61x88 cm  Sold 

Finalist for the Mosman Art Prize 2009

I saw some paper cut out dolls at a friend's place made by her daughter and it struck me as such an evocative motif.  After several efforts with scissors and much snipping I made my own version and decided to arrange them so they appear to be dancing out of the book rather like a narrative.  Their repetitive shapes interested me as did the shadows made by the pages of the book.  The candle stick I thought looked rather like an authoritarian figure: a grand narrative in his own right and the wooden puppet sitting on the book is the audience.  That was my thinking on one level; on another, I liked the different whites of the candle, paper and wood which leads the eye around the composition.

Citrus

Grapefruit

Oil on stretched canvas 20 x 20.5 cm Unframed $90

Citrus with jug

Oil on stretched canvas 36 x 46 cm Unframed $250

The little pilgrim

Oil on stretched canvas 52 x74 cm

I don't like to motivate the viewer's reading but I think the candle stick looks rather like an authority figure.  And the little wooden figure strike's me as fitting for a pilgrim who is willing to follow "woodenly" without thinking or questioning the logic of 'blind faith'.  Composition wise, the puppet fitted very well with the candle stick.