2010
This work continues to pursue an interest in edges and boundaries which has both challenged and confounded me for many years.
I suppose in looking closely at my work over decades there does seem to be a preoccupation with setting up compositions that gain energy from contrasts or opposites: inner and outer spaces, diffused and sharp delineation of shapes, and colour / tone contrasts.
Loose drawing always underpins my work. The work also comes from reflective and direct observation of my immediate location which acts as a prompt and allows for ideas to flow freely in what I feel is the most fundamental manner of maintaining an authenticity.
I began using the diptych format a number of years ago and I continue to find it useful in referencing the inner and outer concerns, and two sided approaches. This allows the observer to travel from one dimension to another from sharp edged forms to soft dissolved surfaces where ghost images hover.
The return to encaustic is a deliberate attempt to put immediacy back into my painting. Encaustic is direct, recording quickly what you are thinking as it reaches it’s permanent state in a couple of minutes. However, the surface can be reworked many times by re-heating by using a heat gun.
The downscaling of works in this exhibition was primarily  because of the re introduction of the encaustic process, a series of small studies then eventually evolving into other paintings once I feel the technique has been controlled.
I feel in my work that I struggle to find a correspondence with the world, to put yourself into the greater nature and to engender a sense of being able to empty and fill space.
I set about loosing oneself in the process of painting and try to reach a heightened state in search of a different and somewhat profound insight. My aim is to complicate a painting at first, then to pair down and remove living remnants or traces of ideas, particularly around the edges. This has the capacity to put the viewer in a position of re-framing or re-making images from their own imagination.



Click on the images below to see a larger version.

'cooling' encaustic on linen 117 x 92cm

'embers' wax crayon and oil on canvas on board

'haven' encaustic on canvas on board 30 x 30cm

'lagoon' wax crayon on linen 26 x 26cm

'meander' wax crayon on canvas on board 30 x 30cm

'new ground' (diptych) encaustic on linen 71 x 82cm SOLD

'on the periphery' encaustic on linen 46 x 82cm

'smirr' encaustic on canvas on board 30 x 30cm

'remember arkaroola' (diptych) encaustic on linen 46 x 82cm

'safe harbour' wax crayon on linen 18.5 x 18.5cm PRIVATE COLLECTION

'sea and architecture' encaustic on linen 30.5 x 30.5cm

'under buninyong' encaustic on linen 107 x 133cm

shiver 46 x 36cm encaustic on linen

red dawn 20 x 20cm encaustic on linen

winter garden 2010, encaustic on linen, 61 x 56 cm

remembering arkaroola, encaustic on linen, 41 x 82 cm

wandering ( diptych ), 23 x 46.5 cm