This piece continues the landscape studies of McCahon in my collection. It is a tall, skinny mural that towers above the viewer, over two metres tall. The foreground is solidified with a fence that divides the viewer from the hills. The hills are divided, and the height of this work allows for them to be stacked on top of each other, providing different views from one place.
Here I take the next step of building my love of the works of Colin McCahon. The text is blended with the landscape, with the sharp cubist lines and deep greens of the hills. There is a darkness to this work, but the white clouds of New Zealand bring hope to the right.
One of my first works that I sold at exhibition, this work depicts a typical country church in a vast landscape. This piece measures 1.9m across, and was created on calico, a thinner canvas. In a way, I was inspired by Grahame Sydney for this work, though clearly did not seek the photorealism that Sydney achieves in his works.
One of the early landscape works where I explored the sense of a blue moon (aside from there not being any blue paint used), with it rising over still waters. The additional aspect to this work is that it can be hung as pictured, or turned ‘upside down’ through 180 degrees. For the vibrancy in the painting, I used PVA glue mixed with the paint to give it an additional sheen.
This is the largest piece I have painted so far. It is also my first on hessian. I was surprised at how much paint was required to paint on this surface. This work harks back to Checkmate, an earlier work, where I explore different realms and different perspectives.
While attending the National Leadership Development Course in 2001, which consisted of a 3 day solo on the shore of Lake Rotowiti, I had written a poem one of the nights there. Following this I turned the poem into this three part painting, again in the style of Colin McCahon.
“Night falls silently across the hills and lake, floating through thin air which chills the bone.
Night falls bringing with it darkness around the land but there is something else it brings, Building and eating away at a lonely soul. Fear strikes in the dark of the Night. Terror runs through the blood of body.
Night falls all is peacefull(sic) or not so full. As I toss and turn in my bag of warm a chill runs down my spine.”
The final piece of my early McCahon studies on canvasboard. After this piece I began a different journey with these works and moved onto studying the landscape a bit more.
“Saul, why do you hate me? Saul, why do you persecute me?”
A continuation of this series of work based off Colin McCahon’s work of the same theme.
“Elois lama sabachthani. Father I give you my life. And then He breathed His last.”
This piece is my first experimentation with adding texture by using sand mixed in with the paint and glue to make a thickness to the work. The self authored poem is written to blend with the background of a sun / moon across some water with a cross also depicted.
“Like a bird soaring high in the sky, freedom is a present and longed for in this life. TURNING THE TIDES. Like a Chinese roller coaster, the waves twist and turn. You are my ship’s captain. If some soul goes overboard I’d be diving into the vast ocean before me to save them from the ocean’s throw. Violent as _”
The first of many crucifix studies. The darkness of the night surrounds Christ as the lightning highlights his form on the cross.
