Self Portrait with Black Mug

Charcoal and acrylic on paper

The time I've used paint in quite some time:) Wanting to do some serious painting again. I have some ideas in the visual journal and was inspired by the (deceptively) simple style of John Brack.

Eye for an Eye II

Eye for an Eye

Bird of Death VII

Pilgrims II

Pilgrims on the Crusade Against Recession

Pilgrams on the Crusade Against Global Recession

Bird of Death VI

Bird of death V (Pilgramage)

Bird of Death III ( suffering and faith)

Bird of Death III

Four Birds

Bird of Death II

Bird of Death II

This pic gives you a reasonable idea of the size of the paper Im using. Here I've used medium willow charcoal, Flat black Acrylic enamel paint and Gesso Canvas Primer on A1 cartridge. Havent used charcoal in ages!! To me, the point with art is, NEVER GIVE UP!! No matter how many bad pictures you do, or how many times you fail at what you want to achieve, or how many times you look at the skill of other artists and hang your head, sooner or later, something will emerge that is worthwhile... Or at least, seems to be at the time:)


This is the slop pile out of which things grow...It aint pretty. But Id have to admit that neither is the finished product, really:)

The City is a Poem

During my classes in St Albans, I get pretty bored. This boredom means that I tend to fill pages with doodles and manic scribbling. Some of them looked interesting to me, so this work in progress is something I have been working on this weekend. The photo doesn't really do it that much justice, as it is eight A3 pages of bleed proof paper taped together and hung on my lounge room wall. So its pretty sizable.

It makes me think of how cities are sometimes these random patterns of structure that build up over time. ( except in the case of Canberra, as a friend pointed out last night:) There is very little planning as dwellings and buildings are constructed, ad hoc, as needs arise. Kind of archaeological, kind of topographical. Abstract. Also reminds me of circuit boards. Things connecting, yet random. Purposeful , yet purposeless.

Lets see how it goes:)

Winter Sketches

Charcoal on paper