new year, new work

I have 2 Exhibitions coming up early this year.

The first is Historic Port Elizabeth from 12th to 27th February at the EPSAC Gallery. I will be exhibiting with Vilia Offerman, who is sought after for her great watercolours, and well known local photographer Bob Binell, who has a fantastic collection of vintage photos of early PE.

The next is in mid March, at the Cuyler Street Gallery, which I am delighted to get into, as the owner, Tossie Theron is a respected authority on Eastern Cape art, and a great promoter of local artists.

Here is a preview of a selection of new work that is being done for those exhibitions.

Title: Crossroads

Size: 600x500mm

SOLD

I love this little church which we see from our dining room window, the proportions are wonderful, as are the two different stone crosses on the gables. Over the years I have photographed it in a wide variety of light conditions.

Title: Contemplation 2

Size: 500x600mm

The meditative mood of this appealed to me.... gazing over the valley, is the grass greener over there?

Title: Crossroads St Stephens and Mackay Streets.
Size: 600x300mm

The streetscapes of the historic areas of PE are often charming, offering a blend of old houses and new lamp posts, and often the bay forms the backdrop.

Title: Crossroads Mackay and Cross Streets.

Size: 600x300mm

Another Richmond Hill streetscape with panoramic view of the bay.

SOLD

Title: Looking down St Stevens Street

Size: 300x400mm

SOLD

Title: Looking down Parliament Street

Size: 400x300mm

SOLD

Corner Store, Irvine and Raleigh Street.

Title: Looking over Russell Road

Size: 400x500

SOLD

Sunrise through the trees in the old Graveyard

Pre-Restoration, Vovo Telo

600x900mm

SOLD

Title: St Stevens, winter

Size: 250x250mm

SOLD

Title: Invitation to Rest

Size: 450 x 1200mm

There is something about park benches and shady trees that really seems to draw me, I guess at a stressful time, it is the allure of the unattainable...

The forest beckons...

SOLD

Title: The Forest Beckons

Size: 150x200mm

Relaxing after breakfast at a chalet in the Knysna forest, I just had to try and capture the feeling of being drawn into the forest to explore.... sadly there wasn't time, but I'll be back!

Duncan Village 2

Title: Duncan Village 2

Size: 900x700mm

Another view of the Duncan Village informal settlement in East London. Although life is hard and conditions are far from acceptable, there remains a vibrancy and sense of community that speaks volumes about the resiliance of the human spirit.

one I forgot to post!

Oops, here is one that slipped through the cracks! I was looking for it so I could give the link to someone who has a great swan photo on his blog, (in fact lots of brilliant photos, check out Dick's blog...) and realised I had forgotten to post it. So here is swansong, a combination of swans I photographed in Bloemfontein a few years ago, and the predominantly black and white abstracts that make statements... this one alludes to global warming, and the "swansong" of the planet.

SOLD

Title: Swansong

Size: 900x600mm

Can't see the wood for the trees?, and sunset at sea

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Title: Can't see the wood for the trees?

Size: 1200 x 1000 mm

A large happy looking abstract. I have a "thing" for rainbow colours and trees, this is a marriage of the two!

SOLD
Title: Sunset at sea
Size: 500 x 400 mm

This is an older painting that was tucked away somewhere at an out of town gallery, I just retrieved it last week.

waxing lyrical

I have been experimenting with wax on my canvasses, to add texture to the paintings... I just love the subtle effects that can be achieved when paint is applied and then rubbed off again, as the wax only retains some of the pigment. The 3 paintings in the previous post had some wax on them, and these three do too. After some experimentation, I have settled on a wax called microcrystalline, used by scuptors. It is very flexible, much more so than paraffin wax, and handles well when carved. Great fun!

Title : Red and Blue 2

Size : 1500x1000 mm

sold...commission

This was commissioned for a beach house in Port Alfred. I stained some wax red and dripped it over the grassy areas for extra texture.

SOLD

Title: the circle of life
Size: 1000x1000mm

There is subtle writing on this one, running around the spiral. It reads "it takes time and careful listening to unravel the meaning of life.... but most of us are on a hamster wheel whizzing around and times rushes by too fast... so we forget to look around and listen out for clues." The fact that the writing is not obvious or easy to read mirrors the message that we need to work at finding meaning in life.

here are a few details showing the textures created by the wax.

Title: lest we forget #3
Size: 1000x1000mm
SOLD

Yet another in the series dealing with the meaninglessness of war, and how pointless all the deaths really are.

I have included a few details below to show some of the textures, and the interplay of silver leaf, paint and wax to create subtle textures.

spring offerings................

With the welcome arrival of our latest grandchild, the painting has been a bit slower than usual, but here are the latest ones.....
another pair in the anti war poppy series...


SOLD

Title: Lest we Forget 2a

size: 300x1000mm

SOLD
Title: Lest we Forget 2b
size: 300x1000mm


Title: wise men came from the east
size: 1200x1000mm