Well now, it has been a while since I posted on here…Obviously, I been very busy with school and also other projects- as usual biting off more than I can chew, the only way I know how….anyways, latest news is that I have been selected as a finalist in the Stencil Art Prize again- this time, it’s the Australian and World stencil art prize, so I’m feeling pretty good about getting a Guernsey, second year in a row…The piece I did is called “The Shock of the New” partly as a tribute to the Late Australian art critic and Historian, Robert Hughes, who died last year and wrote the landmark book of the same name. The title also reflects my approach to stencils, trying to do something different and use them for abstraction rather than figurative painting- having the courage to break away from the well-worn path and go my own way…Look at that, I put a Fleetwood Mac lyric in, who woulda thought?
My new paintings are coming along quite nicely, after an initial period of uncertainty…I am using the technique I have used for my last two bodies of work and it seems to be that the more I use it, the more in control of it I feel. People who see me working for the first time don’t often understand that I been working this technique for the better part of a year and a bit and I have a fair idea of how things are going to work out…This series of paintings are about mortality…Without being too morbid, I wanted to look at the idea that death is inevitable so it makes no sense to be afraid of it…be aware of it by all means but being afraid seems like a waste of time and energy…After going to the planetarium at Mawson Lakes, I started to get a sense of how ridiculously big the universe is and in contrast how insignificant a human life is…The fact that a light year is a unit of measuring distance- equivalent to some 10 trillion kilometres, compared to the average Australian life expectancy of 82 years, it seems kind of trifling…So then I started thinking about a human life- and I wanted a different perspective so I broke it down into minutes/hours/days/months…That’s 43,099,600 minutes, 716,352 Hours, 29,930 days, 4275 weeks, 984 months…obviously each of these numbers adds up to 82 years… When you look at it like this, you can see there is a definite end and you all of a sudden realize that you better get on with it….For those who know my work, you would probably recognize the technique I use when I paint- I started with this technique in second semester of last year and since then it has continued to develop…I have begun to really push colour this time- In previous paintings I used reds and then on the last lot of works I used mainly neutral colours- now I’ve gone with more or less primary colours- red, blue and yellow and it took some testing to get it right, but once I decided on the types of red, blue and yellow it started to come together…the combinations of layers means you get some really nice effects…The other reason I decided on these colours was to do with the life cycle of stars- young foolish stars burn blue, conservative middle age stars burn yellow and cranky old stars burn red, while dying stars are either white or black… The marks themselves are all more or less horizontal or vertical and for me they set up a rhythm through repetition which makes them quite interesting to look at- after a few layers they begin to pulse and seethe and really mess with your eyes, especially in these colours…So ultimately these paintings are about stopping to look around you and realizing that nothing is permanent, everything is ever changing so don't get complacent because in a second it could all be gone...
From the top, you have the first of the three of these new paintings, remembering that they measure 54 inches tall by 48 inches wide and all of them are untitled right now...under that you have the second painting and then the third of the three second to last followed by a picture of them all in my studio, waiting to be worked on...These are all early stages photos- they will probably all have at least between 5-10 more layers of paint- we'll see how we go...
Another piece I been working on, just getting started really is for a friend of mine’s charity that she has to raise awareness of Organ Donation for children…A subject for some that can be difficult but a very important one none the less…She will be having a silent auction in December and asked me if I would like to donate a work, which of course I was more than happy to do…So this is the beginning of the painting, with a whole lot more layers to go…
So the beat goes on, Ill keep bashing away at my paintings- one of which will be in the grad show in November which obviously everyone who reads this will be invited to closer to the date and check out the Stencil art prize either on Facebook or www.stencilartprize.com for information on the opening which will be in Sydney on the 16th of October at The Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown- which of course, if you are in Sydney for, you should come and check it out and I'll be there for the opening night, so hopefully I'll see you if you come around...Until next time, have fun, you crazy kids...
My new paintings are coming along quite nicely, after an initial period of uncertainty…I am using the technique I have used for my last two bodies of work and it seems to be that the more I use it, the more in control of it I feel. People who see me working for the first time don’t often understand that I been working this technique for the better part of a year and a bit and I have a fair idea of how things are going to work out…This series of paintings are about mortality…Without being too morbid, I wanted to look at the idea that death is inevitable so it makes no sense to be afraid of it…be aware of it by all means but being afraid seems like a waste of time and energy…After going to the planetarium at Mawson Lakes, I started to get a sense of how ridiculously big the universe is and in contrast how insignificant a human life is…The fact that a light year is a unit of measuring distance- equivalent to some 10 trillion kilometres, compared to the average Australian life expectancy of 82 years, it seems kind of trifling…So then I started thinking about a human life- and I wanted a different perspective so I broke it down into minutes/hours/days/months…That’s 43,099,600 minutes, 716,352 Hours, 29,930 days, 4275 weeks, 984 months…obviously each of these numbers adds up to 82 years… When you look at it like this, you can see there is a definite end and you all of a sudden realize that you better get on with it….For those who know my work, you would probably recognize the technique I use when I paint- I started with this technique in second semester of last year and since then it has continued to develop…I have begun to really push colour this time- In previous paintings I used reds and then on the last lot of works I used mainly neutral colours- now I’ve gone with more or less primary colours- red, blue and yellow and it took some testing to get it right, but once I decided on the types of red, blue and yellow it started to come together…the combinations of layers means you get some really nice effects…The other reason I decided on these colours was to do with the life cycle of stars- young foolish stars burn blue, conservative middle age stars burn yellow and cranky old stars burn red, while dying stars are either white or black… The marks themselves are all more or less horizontal or vertical and for me they set up a rhythm through repetition which makes them quite interesting to look at- after a few layers they begin to pulse and seethe and really mess with your eyes, especially in these colours…So ultimately these paintings are about stopping to look around you and realizing that nothing is permanent, everything is ever changing so don't get complacent because in a second it could all be gone... 
From the top, you have the first of the three of these new paintings, remembering that they measure 54 inches tall by 48 inches wide and all of them are untitled right now...under that you have the second painting and then the third of the three second to last followed by a picture of them all in my studio, waiting to be worked on...These are all early stages photos- they will probably all have at least between 5-10 more layers of paint- we'll see how we go...
Another piece I been working on, just getting started really is for a friend of mine’s charity that she has to raise awareness of Organ Donation for children…A subject for some that can be difficult but a very important one none the less…She will be having a silent auction in December and asked me if I would like to donate a work, which of course I was more than happy to do…So this is the beginning of the painting, with a whole lot more layers to go…
So the beat goes on, Ill keep bashing away at my paintings- one of which will be in the grad show in November which obviously everyone who reads this will be invited to closer to the date and check out the Stencil art prize either on Facebook or www.stencilartprize.com for information on the opening which will be in Sydney on the 16th of October at The Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown- which of course, if you are in Sydney for, you should come and check it out and I'll be there for the opening night, so hopefully I'll see you if you come around...Until next time, have fun, you crazy kids...
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