Virtually fumbling around in the dark this afternoon trying to get a few things just right but happy with how things eventually turned out. after all these years I still feel like I’m still experimenting with colour and wash. There’s so much to learn and discover with oils and I know I’ll only ever get so close to what I’m really after. Thankfully my appetite for the medium ignores such reasoning.
‘Art is Jazz, Jazz is Art’⁣ {oil on canvas}⁣ Cropped section of a painting from a jazz influenced series some years ago.⁣ ⁣ I was listening to a lot of bebop, Coltrane, Miles and contemporary jazz & blues at the time, along with playing tenor and alto saxophone myself. ⁣ Music has always been kind of a big deal in my life and I remember it feeling very natural creating art around where my head was at. Still does. ⁣ ⁣ Back then I was also producing promotional work for various festivals (Saratoga New York, Moscow Jazz Festival and closer to home Adelaide Jazz Festival and Newcastle Jazz Festival). ⁣ I love to have music playing when I’m painting but it’s not all jazz these days. ⁣ I think (that like art) it is productive to immerse and educate oneself in a wide range of music and influence. ⁣ Look, listen, absorb and learn from all sources and then try to communicate or interpret that through your art. ⁣ ⁣ The presence of influence (subjective or pictorial) not imitation is fine in context and it is what attracts me most to the work of others whether it’s visual art or music. ⁣ ⁣ But it’s all subjective right?⁣ ⁣ Of my own creative endeavours, I try to keep an open mind, ignore trends and for the most part not be too seduced by the new or other people’s amazing art. ⁣ ⁣ Rediscovering this jazz inspired piece today reminded me that my most successful (in my eyes) and worthwhile work remains in following my continued intention to produce art that reflects where I am at right now. ⁣ By this I mean in a physical sense, psychological or place in time.⁣ ⁣ It’s an interesting journey and may be wasted if I make it all about aesthetics and no real narrative. Well at least for me anyway. ⁣ ⁣ End of rant. ⁣ ⁣ Have a creative weekend everyone 😀⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣
Happy NAIDOC week!⁣ ‘Follow Your Dreaming’⁣ {charcoal on paper}⁣ ⁣ ...................................⁣ ⁣ NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920′s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Have been enjoying the music of Philly band ‘Japanese Breakfast’ this last week, and out of pure self indulgence knocked up an illustration of their talented singer/songwriter Michelle Zauner.
An illustration of Oz keyboard wizard ‘Lachy Doley’. Cat can play.
Drawings from the sixteenth floor..
In the times when life feels like a circus, I take solace in remembering what good came from circus as a life. (Dad and Mum and my brother back in the touring days).
Something on the go but not completely realised yet, so I’ll sleep on it. ⁣ Doubt is better than certainty. ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #gouache #watercolor #instaart #illustrating #paint #insta_art #artinaustralia #artfido #artmaking #ozarts #artsanity #artiist_sharing #arts_gate #illustration_best #art_insanely #picoftheday #artoftheday #artist_4_shoutout #arthound #newbrush #artsofinstagram #naturalmedia #melancholia⁣
⁣ ⁣ ‘Liberty’⁣ Illustration + photographic decomposition. ⁣ June 2019. ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #illustrated #decomposition #liberty #cbgb #statueofliberty #newyork #nyc #cbgbs #overtheshoulder #glance #ink #charcoal #contemporaryillustration #tradigital #artismusic #liberation
Weapons of mass creation. {late night on the brushes}