Hi All! Here’s my latest finished painting. I’ve called her Saaskia! She’s painted in acrylic paints on canvas. Like many of my artworks, she’s taken a few years to evolve.
Saaskia first started as a sketch that I made when I found myself down at the Sydney Dance Company (SDC) one day on a lunch-time walk. Although it’s moved now, the SDC was then situated on a wharf looking out onto the harbor, with a lovely open, sun-drenched café with floor to ceiling windows that let you just stare out onto the water and just drift away.
The wharf precinct near the old site of the Sydney Dance Company
I was feeling so light and carefree at being out and about, away from the office and having some time to myself that I even ordered a glass of wine. It felt ridiculously cheeky and I had a wonderful time. I had my sketch book, a bevvie and wonderful view of the harbor. I couldn’t have asked for more. I drew a series of about eight or ten sketches, and one of them was the bare bones of
Saaskia. Others, such as the ones below, I’ve used as illustrations in my book Bitroux: The Metalsmith. Others, I’ve kept to further develope at some point down the track. But I’ve held on to that sketch book very firmly, because each of those sketches seemed special, somehow.
Anyway, Saaskia has continued to evolve since then as I used the sketch as the basis for this painting.
In Saaskia, you’ll see a few motifs that appear in a lot of my work. Nearly every work that I do has circles – they are a symbol that I’ve yet to explore fully but they constantly appearand have done so since I began painting. Secondly, vertical and horizontal repeating bars often make an appearance in my art. For some reason I feel that these bars ground the painting; where the circles are quite esoteric, the bars are more earthly and solid. The colours are also part of my signature colour palette at this point in time, particularly this combination of teals and greens.
Saaskai is now available in my store as an original painting also available in a range of sizes as a fine art print. Click below to shop!
