Coast in Progress

Coast in Progress

Watercolour on Arches

57cm x 38cm

This painting needs more work but I enjoy the energy that comes with under-painting a scene and the marks that result. I have used a lot of phthalo blue in this underworking, phthalo is the most over-powering watercolour colour I have come across. It can dominant the work and is hard to control, but it is so beautiful and intense.

Clovelly rock walk sketches

 Clovelly Sand

Watercolour and Chinese Ink on Arches

 20cm x 19cm

Clovelly rocks

Watercolour and Chinese Ink on Arches

26cm x 20cm

The distinct linear clouds combined with the pattern of rock or sand offers an inspiring reference point. In these small pieces I am using this real-life reference to abstract and suggest. Increasingly, my desire is to abstractly conceive reality in a way that does not purely abstract but rather captures the monumentality of the landscape. I want every brushstroke to express and to have purpose.

The in-between spaces

The in-between space

Watercolour on Arches Paper

57cm x 37cm

This is a painting from a space in-between I found when I was walking from A to B. I love walking. I often walk rather than take the car or bus. It takes me longer but I enjoy it. I enjoy feeling how spaces connect. So often we rely on transport to take us from A to B without enjoying those spaces in-between. I am a fan of the author Will Self who has written a book called Psychogeography. Basically, he argues that transport, particularly the car, has removed us from understand our landscape. He proposes that people understand the world as a series of disconnected microcosms without any understand how they relate. To better understand the landscape people should walk more.

Watsons Bay Californian Bugalow

Watson Bay Californian Bungalow

Watercolour on Arches Paper

75cm x 56cm

Abstracting Maroubra Beach

Maroubra Beach 

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm
56cm x 26cm

I find it easier to abstract the image and suggest more with ink and some watercolour however there is such potential with watercolour alone when it applied loose and freely. This painting is a larger watercolour than I normally paint and in it I have attempted to achieve the free mark-making of ink using only watercolour. I am relatively happy with it but there is a long way to go!

Broad-leafed Paperbark Trees

Broad-leafed Paperbark Trees

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm Paper

24cm x 22cm

These Broad-leafed Paperbark Trees stand between Busbys Pond and the Mission fields in Centennial Park. They were planted in 1902 as a wind break.

Parsley Bay Foliage

Parsley Bay Foliage

Ink and Watercolour on Arches 300gsm Paper

27cm x 35cm

North Coogee Beach in Winter

North Coogee in June

Watercolour on Arches 300gsm Paper

56cm x 21cm

Tower Block in Coogee

Watercolour on Arches 300gsm Paper

27cm x 21cm

Burnie Street, Clovelly

Burnie Street

Watercolour on Arches 300gsm Paper

36cm x 28cm

This painting was an exploration into a composition with a strong vanishing point. I wanted to capture the shadow pattern on the ground particularly from the fence to emphasis the converging perspective. As someone who has spent a lot of time in a cold and wet temperate climate I am really enjoying the strong light of Australia and the interesting effect it has on the landscape.

Bare Island in Botany Bay

Bare Island in Botany Bay

33cm x 30cm

Watercolour on Arches 300gsm Paper

These watercolours are from a recent walk around Congwong Bay near the New South Wales Golf course. It is interesting to view the traffic from the cargo ships sailing in and out of Botany Bay. From this vista there is also a clear view of the historic military fort island Bare Island which is connected to the mainland with a board walk. In the painting above I was almost looking into the sun and the sea reflected the sunlight. I have left the paper with a very thin wash to try and depict this reflection. In my work at the moment I trying to be minimalistic in my use of brushstrokes to suggest the scene. Watercolours are a medium where the phrase 'less is more' reigns supreme. They can be very unforgiving with heavy-handedness. I feel the painting below is overworked and does not flow as well as the painting above.

Botany Bay from near New South Wales Golf Course

27cm x 22cm
Watercolour on Arches 300 gsm Paper

Parsley Bay, Vaucluse

 

Parsley Bay Bridge

Watercolour on Arches 300gsm Paper
23cm x 30cm

A friend recommended I visit Parsley Bay and I am so glad she did. It is a wonderful picturesque oasis off Sydney harbour. The bay is a narrow inlet from the harbour with a large lawn behind the beach and dense vegetation to the sides of the inlet. Parsley Bay is most distinguished by its footpath cable suspension bridge which spans over the water. Sydney is full of these wonderful harbour bays that provide a lovely calm to the city. These watercolours were painted in the winter so feature no people. I can image in the summer I would have to capture the many swimmers as this is an idyllic swimming beach. I intend to come back and capture that.

View from the Bridge, Parsley Bay Boats

Watercolour on Arches 180gsm Paper
25cm x 17cm

Parsley Bay Rocks

Watercolour and Ink on Bockingford 300gsm Paper
21cm x 30cm

The top two paintings today were pure watercolours. The third painting is ink and watercolour. In this 'Parsley Bay Rocks' I wanted to abstract the rocks and vegetation to give a sense of the many patterns that emerge in a space like this.

Brook Street

 

Brook Street viewing South

Watercolour on Arches 180 gsm

27cm x 20cm

Carrington Road

Carrington Road Viewing South

Watercolour on Arches 180gsm Paper
33cm x 31cm

Gordons Bay Rocks

Gordons Bay Rocks

Ink and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

42cm x 29cm

Petrol, Roofs and a Pole in Coogee

Coogee Petrol

Ink and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

42cm x 29cm

Carrington Road Roofs

Ink and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

42cm x 29cm

Portrait of a Pole on Powell Street

Ink and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

29cm x 42cm

White Picket Fence

White Picket Fence

Ink and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

29cm  x 42cm

Clovelly Randwick Ink Exploration

Clovelly Road Sidewalk 

Ink, Pen, Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

29cm x 42cm

Looking north from Beach Street

Ink, Pen, Watercolour and Watercolour Paper

42cm x 29cm

California Bungalow on Fern Street in Ink

California Bungalow on Fern St in Ink

Vandyke Brown Ink, Sepia Pen, White Acrylic and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper
42cm x 29cm

The california bungalow is a familiar sight in Sydney. As the name suggests they are a style of architecture that take their influence from America developed between 1915 to 1940. Their low pitched red triangle roofs framed by foliage are a dominate feature of the landscape here.

Douglas St, Clovelly

Douglas St in Ink

Ink, Pen on Watercolour Paper

29cm x 42cm

This view out to Waverley Cemetary was an experimentation in ink. The ink was applied with  a pen, a dip pen, a stick and a brush in an attempt to get a variety of line.

Mahon Pool, Maroubra

Mahon Pool in June

Watercolour on Arches 180 gsm paper

28cm x 21cm

 Jack Vanny Reserve in June
Watercolour on Arches 180 gsm paper
21cm x 29cm

 Maroubra Wave

Watercolour on Arches 180 gsm paper

29cm x 20cm