Journal

Video: Heron Dining in the Pond

In this short video I talk about my painting, Heron Dining in the Pond. I share the story of the encounter that inspired the painting and give some insight into the composition and colours.

SOLO EXHIBITION: Encounters with Nature in Victoria. 22 Sept – 14 OCT 2021

This public and free exhibition at Melbourne’s City Library will feature detailed oil paintings inspired by nature in Victoria. Each work will be accompanied by a passage detailing where the subject was encountered, what the artist was feeling at the time and why it caught his attention. The exhibition will be a positive, colourful and

FIVE reasons why I don’t touch the subjects of my paintings

I was taught to leave nature the way I found it, but there was a time when artists wouldn’t hesitate to pick, cut down, trap or kill subjects so they could take them to their studios to study while painting. In 2021 I don’t need to do that because I can document what I see

Looking up into the firewheels

I don’t seek out industrial areas very often. I don’t feel comfortable walking around them if I have no business being there. Usually they are dirty and loud with no consideration to visual aesthetics or human comfort because the operators are too busy working to worry about making the place look nicer in case somebody

Video: Flax Lily on the Mountain

In this video I talk about the inspiration behind my painting Matted Flax Lily on the Mountain. This work is 50cm x 40cm and I finished painting it in March 2021. This original painting and high-quality prints are available in my shop.

Water droplets on the leaves

It was an early morning walk through an area which only twelve months before had been touched by bushfire. Beside the trail I was seeing patches where short-lived spot fires had burned and the charcoal stumps of unfortunate trees that had caught embers and suffered alone. This hill had been spared the main inferno, but

Heron dining in the pond

I look up to the sky and feel uneasy in my stomach. It really doesn’t look like a good time to start a long hike. The clouds are gathering and forming ominous pillars on one side of the mountain, gradually turning the bright blue sky to grey. I dread being caught out in a storm

Scarlet Robin in the mountains

I’m hiking over a scenic mountainside on a clear, crisp summer morning, and everything is perfectly relaxing: the grassy plains with occasional patches of small but bright alpine flowers; the countless, radiant white snow gums that have been bent and twisted by heavy snow dumped on them every winter; and the views of the valleys

SOLO exhibition in Spring 2021

A public and free exhibition of my work is scheduled to be held in the Melbourne City Library public gallery during spring 2021. The exhibition will feature brand new works that depict Australian nature accompanied by written memories of how I found them. I will post more information as the date draws closer. 22 September

Fine art inspired by the beauty of Australian nature.

Journal