Purple Onion

Purple Onion
Oil on cotton mounted on MDF

$150

145x150mm

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These are called "red" onions. I think all greengrocers must be colour-blind.

Memorial Dove

Memorial Dove

Oil on linen mounted on MDF
150x200mm

This was painted for the Global Artists For Peace exhibition, which can be viewed at Virtual Tart from tomorrow night.

Red Pencil in Small Bottle

Red Pencil in Small Bottle

Oil on gessoed board
100x100mm

$150

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sold

Green Tacks

Green Tacks
Oil on gessoed board

100x100mm
$150

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Pink Peg

Pink Peg
Oil on gessoed board
$150

sold

For purchase info click here

I always have a love/hate thing with the colour pink. Especially day-glow pink. And it struck me when painting this how much we take for granted saturated, vibrant, and let's face it - garish colours in our modern world. I guess the most vibrant colours in the natural world are found in flowers, tropical birds and fish. Artist's attempting to replicate these colours in the past have only ever had a few precious pigments to play with. Purples and blues became associated with wealth and royalty because artists couldn't afford those extremely rare and precious pigments unless they had a wealthy patron footing the bill! Even over my relatively short lifetime I have seen a huge explosion in the use of colour around me. When I was starting out painting in my teens I remember it being very special to find a book with colour plates in it! I remember what a big deal it was to get colour tv. In just a few decades the world has become so saturated and awash with colour that in order for anything to be noticed above the noise it has to be in flashing neon or made out of day-glow material. Like this plastic clothes peg. Even with today's modern pigments it is an impossibility to match the day-glow nature of the plastic. Without using the same fluorescent (and fugitive) dyes that is... So it's really a compromise. A bit like trying to represent metallic colours.

Over-ripe Banana

Over-ripe Banana
Oil on linen mounted on MDF

145x190mm

$300



I will not be posting to this blog quite as regularly from now on. The painting a day project has been fun and I feel like I've learned a great deal from it. I still intend to carry on with painting small paintings, but not everyday. I'd like to return to some more ambitous larger paintings. The world is full of a plethora of mediocre images and eyecandy. I can't help but stop and consider if it really needs more of mine? The time is ripe to move on...

Half Lemon and Knife on Blue Patterned Plate

Half Lemon and Knife on Blue Patterned Plate
Oil on linen Mounted on MDF

148x190mm
$300

sold