no beginning, no end...

So now I've actually got around to writing this because school is done for the year...Yes, I will continue to go there until i am barred from the place-I still have plenty of work i can go on with until that time... Obviously the big news is finishing my paintings for Painting 8, they spoke to me the other Monday night and told me that they were done- Nina B. and I who was working late with me sat back and looked at them as you see them in the picture below and certainly I was amazed to see them all together. I presented them to lecturers and students on Wednesday morning and they seemed to be well received- one lecturer who had taught me in first and second year commented that with a lot of abstract painting you can often walk straight past and not be affected, however, she said that with my paintings, they demand your attention and pull you in to look closer. This is of course what I have been wanting to hear in regard to my work forever...

I guess I should also give a little background to these- the official title of them is The Three Jewels and left to right you have Sangha, Dharma and Buddha. Each time I have talked about these i have started with the disclaimer that it wasn't my intention to create religious paintings- more my response to the ideas presented. The Three Jewels is the name given to the three central ideas considered as the foundation of Buddhism. The first, Sangha, is the name for the community that one enters by becoming Buddhist, the second, Dharma is the teaching that one lives their life by when becoming Buddhist and thirdly, the Buddha, which is more about the idea of the Buddha nature or the potential of anyone to reach enlightenment and to become a Buddha. I originally started studying these ideas because in my previous works, i had explored the idea of desire being the root cause of all suffering, therefore if you eliminate desire, you eliminate suffering. This was all well and good but I still had a lot of questions and so, went looking for answers. To a degree, the paintings are my answers and are my responses to these ideas.

I spent alot of time getting caught up in Buddhist ideas- form is emptiness, emptiness is form and also looking at artists like Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross, Mark Rothko's so called Seagram Murals- as well as Ian Fairweather- particularily The Drunken Buddha paintings, which to be honest, inspired alot of the technique...Brett Whiteley just because his attitude and approach I relate to so very much- There ius a documentary from the late eighties called Difficult Pleasures, which is basically an hour and a bit of Whiteley discussing the majority of his works to camera... I also managed to find time to go to Sydney for the Australian stencil art prize- My painting Atlas II was included in the finalists but unfortunately didn't win- this year...so next year when they have the World Stencil Art Prize, I'll have to bust out some new, next level stuff to get my name on that trophy...

me and my painting at the Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown, Sydney...

Spray Booth Hi JInks

Alright so I've been sort of making tuesday stencil day, just trying to get as much work done as I can, before we get booted out...I have a show coming up on the 9th of January at The Gallery on Waymouth- Im pretty sure it will start around 6pm but more about that when the invites go out...So i been doing stencil work, especially because my paint supplier just got a couple colours that have been out of stock for a long while- there was a particular green that I really liked using as a kind of starting point for a lot of paintings...so here are some pics of the work i been doing- started mixing up the colours with the circular one- I like the play of blue and orange, it seems to really suit this stencil- I always liked the combination of colours

The way I originally started with colours was just to get several shades of the same colour and go at it...Recently i been cutting some stencils- used on this piece with several different greens...

here i am hard at work

Ok so soon I will have new photos of the big ones, I'm doing for my painting class, which are almost finished...hoping that will be mid week, but probably not with the Grad show on wednesday the seventh of November in the light square gallery in of course light square, downstairs in the AC arts building if you are in Adelaide on that evening...And if you are in Sydney on the 21st of November you should come to the Australian Stencil Art Prize Launch and shindig at Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown and see my painting Atlas II which is one of the finalists this year...so swing by and say hello....

The danger illustrated...

I gotta say that, actually, there isn't much illustrating going on right now...and there should be...Ive got work due for my drawing for illustration and Im struggling to work it out- but no matter, i'll get it done, just can't say when or how... So...did a bit of work this week, despite the fact that i dont really feel like i spent much time in the studio this week...I painted some stencils, with mixed results so far...

This was just kind of a self portrait kind of thing- this is a picture of how the wall in my painting studio looks...

Then on Friday, I had a good day in the studio

I feel pretty happy with how these are going- Theyre getting close to being finished- some more so than others, but they should all be done on time...but for now i gotta get back to that drawing...

here are some more updated shots of two of my big paintings and the third is a new one i startedjuat because i didnt have enough to do already...

So here I am, first week back and i have just locked into a groove that started in the few days I got in the studio in the holidays and then I just jumped straight in...I managed to be at school painting at least 3 days this week and I've done a fair amount of work as you can see by these up to the minute pictures from today-

Obviously more to come, I reckon I'll be just about posting new stuff weekly from here on out,,,

So here is the difficult third painting- well a little less difficult now but just getting started on this one was rough...a work in progress naturally, the last layer took such a long time and though I was working with spontenaity, I was being very precise with the application and I felt completely exhausted after what had been some three days of constant painting...For me though, I like where its going and the painting has this feeling of strength...The design has become more geometrical but I think I've managed to keep the energy within the confines of the canvas. especially when I think of those two reds together- really messing with your vision... this painting is also a bit of fanboy tribute to Barnett Newman, the person who helped me plenty with this...

Also, I got selected as a finalist for the Australian Stencil Art Prize for my painting, Atlas II...pictured here...very stoked and looking forward to seeing all the entries at the exhibition!

station to station...

Alright- so i been busy in the studio, working on the three new paintings...I finally started the third of my paintings yesterday, concentrating on a faily taut line and just pushing the lines outwards...

when i came back in today, it was dry so I was initially tempted to leave the red as it was and start adding the next colour...in the end I decided to continue with the red and stick with my original idea...This took me a good chunk of today to finish the layer...

Next was the second painting,which was at this stage when I started today...

so i turned it upside down and then put another coat on

this is a picture of all of them together- not in any particular order- in this particular instance I was painting the front one and I looked around the edge to see the other two, paitiently waiting their turn....

same three paintings, but this time so you can see most of them, save for a couple of chairs...

this is me, goofing with paint on my head...dont try this at home, kids!

obviously more progress photos as they come to hand....stay tuned!