Commissions

One of nine artists commissioned by Cardinia, Baw Baw & Latrobe shires, we completed the 2019-20 Bushfire Recovery program - Creative Recovery Project and worked alongside the affected bushfire communities to develop and connect people post the 2019-20 Bunyip State Forest area fires through creativity.

Jon Volta, an engineer from Gembrook has just finished making and assembling the panels designed by me with input from the locals affected by the 2019 fire in the Bunyip State forest area. Each panel is approximately 1x1 metre in size, is of Corten steel on Corten Steel posts, and is visually enhanced by perforated zinc at the rear.

Images depict the surrounding landscape, flora and fauna and Mt. Cannibal.

This was part of my role as a Creative Recovery Facilitator for the Cardinia Shire and the Arts Council of Australia.

The works and other panels designed by fellow Facilitator Janine Good at the Cannibal Creek Reserve, Garfield North were officially launched on Sunday 28th August 2022.

Layered Landscape, Yarra Glen

During lockdown, this landscape was created from memory and a stock of my photographic images. It concerns the theory of painting practice more than an actual place.

I am familiar with a layered landscape and high horizon line living in the hills.

Using the triadic colour scheme of green, purple and orange, I played with the suggestion of depth using softened distant verses strong foreground colours, and a layering of fields, forests and roads.

A contrast of organic and man-made shapes is typical of most of my work.

Simplicity was the aim, but the execution was not that simple. Layers of neutrals softened the strong tube colours, creating texture. The neutrals were made only from the 3 colours plus white.

For the first time, I concurrently painted 3 studies of this subject on 3 canvases. Each are of different size and shape, so are unique in their format. They took ages, but each helped resolve problems in the other. This work is the largest of the three.

For those interested, the subject is based on the view from a commercial tourist precinct near Yarra Glen which inspired me only to retreat from the crowds inside and study the distant landscape. It is symbolic of the views of much of the area.