'Hanging Out" wins an award

Last night Yvonne and I attended the opening of the Whitehorse Arts Association exhibition at the Chapel on Station gallery in Box Hill. I am delighted to say that my watercolour painting "Hanging Out" won third prize. I have had great fun and enjoyment from painting this series about early morning life on Lake Illawarra.

 The judge commented that the painting presented a scene of tranquility and repose - a family scene.
Hopefully, if you are in town, you will be able to get along to see the show [see the previous post for opening times].

December Art Shows

In December I have six paintings on show at two exhibitions.

There are two paintings at the Australian Guild of Realist Artists Gallery Summer Exhibition. 'The Fisher and his Dinghy' along with 'Hanging Out' are shown at the gallery from Wednesday 30 November to Sunday 18 December. The gallery is open Wednesday to Friday, 10am - 4pm and weekends from 1 - 4.30pm.
The AGRA gallery is at 1 Inglesby Road, Camberwell (cnr of Camberwell Road). There is parking next door at the Camberwell town hall car park. This is a great gallery and it is a real privilege to have paintings in this show.
     
At the Whitehorse Arts Association exhibition at the 'Chapel on Station' gallery in Box Hill you can view four more paintings from the 'Lake Illawarra series': 'Takeoff', 'Taking a Break', 'Showoff' and 'Look at Me'. [I've changed the title of this last one as it seems more appropriate.]
The exhibition is from Thursday 8 December until Wednesday 14 December. Open hours are a bit limited: Tues – Fri, 11:30 am -3 pm; Saturday, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm and Sunday: 4.30 pm – 7.00 pm.
Chapel on Station is located in Station Street, Box Hill (cnr  Ellingworth Pde), very close to the station and shopping centre.


Here is 'Show Off' which was the last one finished for these shows and completes the series.

The Illawarra Series: Show Off

Watercolour

46 x 71 cm

I have had a great time with these paintings. Yvonne and I spent a few days at Lake Illawarra, just south of Woollongong, when the weather was very calm and misty. The birdlife is prolific around the shallow, tidal areas in front of our cabin. We spent hours just sitting and watching them enjoy their daily life activities. We came home with many photos and painting ideas.

Watercolour - Morning Preening

Pelicans are fascinating - majestic and ungainly; captivating in their day to day activities. This guy was taking great care to arrange himself just so. We were privileged to share every activity with the residents of Lake Illawarra as they went through the day.

 

Morning Preening

Watercolour

52x36cm

Watercolour - Breakfast on a Misty Morning

The mornings were wonderful whilst we were at Lake Illawarra. The mist and drizzly light rain formed a haze, making the distant shore indistinct and mysterious. In the distance the local fishermen set their nets from boats whilst the swans foraged in the weed filled shallows.
On the mudbanks, the Ibis waded, treading carefully as they searched for every available delicacy.

Breakfast on a Misty Morning

Watercolour

48x73cm

Watercolour - Taking a Break

This is another from the Lake Illawarra series of paintings. Clearly the tangle of logs is a favorite hang out for the various birds living on the lake. Here the Pied Cormorants have taken up residence, taking a break from their fishing expeditions.

Taking a Break

Watercolour

30x53cm

The Fisher and his Dinghy

I'm really enjoying painting this series about life on Lake Illawarra. This is the latest one - The Fisher and his Dinghy. A beautiful early morning with the sun breaking through the mist to highlight the characters around the lake. This guy is getting warm as he waits for just the right conditions.

The Fisher and his Dinghy

Watercolour

51 h x 31cm w

Watercolour - Hanging Out

My most recent painting shown here was "Takeoff" [see 6th September]. I enjoyed the subject so much that I've decided to complete a series called "Lake Illawara Morning". It was a wonderful morning, dead calm, very misty and full of life and promise. "Takeoff" describes the most marvelous event of a pelican gaining full flight from majestically sailing along on the water's surface.
Today I completed "Hanging Out" which shows a group friends dozing and having their morning wash and brush up before starting the day with breakfast.

 Hanging Out

21x72cm 

Watercolour

At this stage I'm planning five paintings in the series. Looking forward to the next one.

The Bare Facts wins an Award!

It was a real delight to visit St Jude's Art Show over the weekend and find that my painting "The Bare Facts' won a Highly Commended Award. This painting is a bit of fun based on a visit to The McClleand Gallery and Sculpture Park in Mornington with my sister and brother-in-law. A great place to see outdoor sculpture in beautiful grounds. The Cafe is very good too!

The Bare Facts

Watercolour

27x36cm

Watercolour - Takeoff

I mainly paint from photos. It's a real delight to use a photo that Yvonne has taken. This one is no exception. Yvonne will spend hours sitting by a lake and watching the birdlife. This photo of a Pelican taking off into the misty, calm dawn was taken at a small lake south of Woollongong. It was well worth the wait to get the perfect shot. Hopefully the painting does justice to the photo and the moment.

Takeoff
Watercolour
54 x 40cm

Watercolour "The Explorer"

"The Explorer" came from watching a very mobile little girl on the beach at Torquay. She was keen to get the most out of every experience and her mum had trouble keeping up.

The Explorer

I deliberately left the background ill-defined to suggest the unknown that the girl was keen to explore.

What a surprise!

Last weekend I entered two paintings in the St Edwards Art Show. St Edwards is a small Anglican church in the next suburb and has had an art show each year in order to raise money for mission and welfare work. This is the 31st year the show has run and to date has gifted over $70,000 to worthwhile causes - great effort.

I entered "The Red Roof" and "The Explorer" and was surprised and delighted that "The Red Roof" sold. 

The Red Roof

Watercolour "Friends Forever" wins an award

You may recall I posted an image of "Friends Forever back in June saying that it was painted for an art challenge at the Whitehorse Arts Association. I am delighted, pleased, excited and over the moon to say that it won a 'Highly Commended' award.

You may begin to understand that I an really pleased with this result as there were many wonderful paintings entered in the show.

Watercolour - On The Edge

I'm delighted to say that 'On The Edge' was bought by a friend as a gift for her grandson who skates. The painting was originally done for a watercolour group I attend. Each month we have a set subject and are encouraged to explore different ways to represent that subject - in this case the subject was "Sports Action"

Watercolour

38x29cm

SOLD

My Brothers Keeper

I displayed six of my paintings in the Quilts Plus 2011 show at Ringwood Church of Christ a couple of weekends ago. This is a biennial event where quiltmakers and related craft persons can display their work. In addition there was a photographic display and my paintings. Over 80 stunning quilts were displayed and they attracted a lot of attention. I had not really expected to sell any paintings but was surprised to receive some good feedback about my work.
During last week I received a phone call regarding a lady who wanted to buy 'My Brother's Keeper' which she saw at the show. I am delighted that she has brought this painting of a scene we captured in Tasmania.

Watercolour

46cm w x 34cm h

SOLD

 

Watercolour - Tied Up At Banksia

For a number of summers we spent a couple of weeks on the Banksia Penninsula in the Gippsland Lakes enjoying camping with friends. Some had boats that sailed the lakes and the nearby jetty in Duck Arm was a favorite place to moor for the duration.
This is a nearly completed painting of friends returning from a day sailing. 
As you may notice, this painting is similar to the first one I posted on this blog. It was fun to try to make the water and reflections appear 'wet' so here's another attempt.

Tied Up At Banksia

Watercolour

54cm w x 23cm h

Watercolour - The Machinist

The Monday afternoon group I attend has chosen the topic of 'People and their Machines' this month. Here's my attempt. There's something inherently honest about toil and 'getting your hands dirty'. Hopefully this portrait of a man working at his lathe shows that.

The Machinist

Watercolour

30 x 30 cm

Watercolour: Friends Forever

The Whitehorse Arts Association holds regular 'Challenges' in which people are invited to submit artworks in either mediums with which they are unfamiliar or on specific topics. The next 'Challenge' is "Pet Portrait". I've never painted or drawn any animals before and we have no pets, other than three goldfish that inhabit our garden pond. I could paint them but they seem to be all mouth - and only seen at feeding time!
Friends kindly let me use their beagles as models and the result is this portrait - thanks to Gerry for the photos.

 Friends Forever

Watercolour

375mm w x 275mm h

New Watercolour "The Red Roof"

It seems like forever since I updated this watercolour wandering blog. I guess I have been wandering doing other things and neglecting this.
I have been trying to paint as much as possible [which isn't as much as I'd like] and have produced a number of paintings which will appear here over the next few weeks.
Here's the first one for a while: The Red Roof. Our neighbours are traveling in England at the moment and regularly send photos - which are excellent. The Red Roof is my interpretation of a photo taken at Quebec House, Westerham in Kent.

The Red Roof

Watercolour

275mm h x 375mm w

First Still Life Watercolour

This is my first attempt at a still life painted as part of a Monday afternoon group I attend. This term we have four [very different] topics to be painted in a medium of choice. I have never attempted a still life before and this is the result.

First Tulips
Watercolour
28.5cm h x 38cm w


Still life is just as challenging as any other subject matter with the exception that it doesn't move, I suppose.

Visiting Art Galleries

There's no doubt that Google has changed the world as we know it. It is possible to find just about anything by googling it [I wish it was this easy to find my car keys.....]. When we are planning a trip we can google the address, get a map of how to get there and see a photo of what the place looks like with Street View - a wonderful facility.

Now it's possible to visit some of the world's greatest art galleries and walk around the greatest paintings using the 'street view' facility of google. Have a look here to begin your visit.

I've just come from having a look around the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and am inspired once again by those wonderful Dutch painters.

View of Houses in Delft, known as 'The little Street'

Gezicht op huizen in Delft, bekend als 'Het straatje'

Around 1658

Johannes Vermeer, 1653 - 1675 oil on canvas
Height : 54.30 cm
Width : 44.00 cm

Located in: Room 10

Watercolour - The Bare Facts

Sculpture is fascinating and deserves investigation -sometimes you just have to get down, get close and have a good look.

The Bare Facts

Watercolor

27x37cm

For a great day out visit the Sculpture Garden in Mornigton - there are beautiful extensive grounds with sculpture scattered around as well as a good gallery and cafe.

Virtual Paintout

Came across a blog with a fantastic purpose today. It's called Virtual Paintout The idea is that of a monthly challenge using Google Street View as the topic for a painting. Each month a new city is chosen from somewhere in the world and artists are given the choice of any location / view from the named city - they then post their work to the Virtual Paintout blog. The blog has very clear instructions and displays the paintings submitted. Google fully supports the project and makes the images available copyright free.
Here are the locations visited so far [not yet to Australia] The range of paintings displayed is amazing as the possibilities through street view is huge.

New Watercolour paintings

Today added two paintings to the Watercolour Works page - 'A Hard days Night' and 'Back Beach Torquay'