Septic Skyline/Shatter/Granny Smith

This is one of the most finicky and preplanned paintings I have ever done. My usual mode of painting is to do a few preliminary sketches and colour studies, then have at it on a blank canvas. Not so with Skeptic Skyline. I drew in every line of every building and acutally used a ruler (unheard of for me, before, or since). I even tried to use those lines that are supposed to give you a sense of perpective and stuff! All this precision on top of my normal painting routine ... exhausting and just madness. It might be another few years before I attempt something like this again!





This was painted as a gift for my next door neighbour. My inspiration: the round window. Let me explain. I'm not much good at abstract art -- at least when you paint something nonabstract you have some sort of image or reference point to compare your work against. How do you paint something that is supposed to look like nothing?? And yet, my neighbour asked for some abstract art. When faced with the daunting prospect of creating abstract art, one of my favourite questions for inspiration is to ask, "What was your favourite window in Play School?" [Play School is an Australian children's show and one of the regular segments involved looking through one of three windows, round, square or arch, to see what was happening -- a film clip of something from real life would then be played. No one except for me ever seems to choose the arch window ... ]





Another gift, this time for my brother's 21st birthday. Again, the magic Play School question, this time also supplemented by, "What colour do you want it?" What's green and round? Well, natch ... Something I particularly enjoy about this painting is the contrast between the semi-realistic approach and blended colours of the apple's body versus the hard lines and unnatural colours of the leaves in the centre. If the leaves had been drawn in a similar style to the apple, it would have been just another still life, but now it's something a bit oddish.