I will be exhibiting in this exhibition which open June 18 6pm at Glen Eira City Council Main Gallery
Saturday Arvo; Best Place
Art Town 2014 exhibition on until May 18th.
I have won the Peoples Choice Award with this painting that I did on location at the Prahran Skate park. Very exciting and many thanks to the Art Series Hotels for their prize.
Get down to Chapel Off Chapel Gallery to see all the works.
Oil on Canvas
76cmW x 100cmH
sold 2014
Commissions and Pricing
Over the last few years, I have done many commissioned family portraits. This is the latest one.
They can take a little while to complete, especially if there are more than two or three people to be in them, as I need to be able to get everyone together, at the one time, in order to get some photographs.
I prefer to work from my own images and to have met the subjects for paintings as specific as this one below.
Pricing
All Portrait works depends on size, from $800 - $1500 including background and one figure; $300 for each extra figure that you would like included.
Footy Commissions
These work well on a canvas size around 50/60cm x 76cm. This can comfortably include the ground and a stand, clubrooms or a scoreboard, as well as the subject or subjects. This size works well to if it is be given as a surprise, as it is neither too small, nor too large. These can be managed with a photograph sent through. Given the subject is often a moving one, I only aim to get a rough similarity to the person. Other personal elements can be added in collaboration with the client, for example a score of a particular game, specific club rooms, emblems and sporting attire, even the era can be considered and can make for interesting images....and enyoyable for me ( I love looking up the history of sporting events and places etc)
Other Work
ie genre work and larger footy and racing paintings: I charge a certain rate per square inch and then factor in any variable such as canvas quality and the number of figures in the work. Canvas varies in weight, the heavier ones being more robust. Linen is beautiful to paint on, but dearer again.
Artists like to sell their work as it enables us to keep on working. Enquiries welcome here
Young Adults
oil on canvas
76cmW x 76cmH
No Score; No Point
When I hear of kids having to play footy without keeping score, it makes me think of a Snakes and Ladders board without the snakes, Monopoly without the money or tennis without the net.
Ridiculous.
If this particular proposal comes to fruition then our under 9's and 10's may as well go back to Auskick and join the local basketball team instead. The kids will get all the necessary benefits and the parents will get to reclaim Sunday, as a day of rest.
Beena Scoreboard
oil on canvas
$395
Art Town 2014
This weekend Art Town 2014 takes off!
I will be painting somewhere near the basketball courts behind the pool and near the skate park. If you are in the area come by and visit. The courts are on the Malvern Road side near the corner of Chapel Street. Excited but nervous as usual!!
I'll be there from 11am til 3 pm Saturday and Sunday 29 and 30th March 2014
A World of His Own
oil on canvas
50cmW x 40cmH
$425
Glen Huntly
Like many of us, I am often curious as to who we are and where we came from. So its probably no surprise that I have often wondered…why is Glen Huntly called Glen Huntly?.
Glen Huntly is the suburb in which I live. For years I have walked up and down Glen Huntly Road for whatever reason; walking kids in prams, taking them to school, going to the shops, the station etc. On most of these occasions I have walked past the local supermarket with the big metal ship covered in pigeon poo on the wall and the big steel anchor lying on its side up on the corner of Grange Road.
…. I guess I knew our suburbs name had something to do with a ship, but that was about it. I was ignorant and oblivious to the history of our suburbs name.
Glen Huntly was a barque sailing vessel; an emigrant bounty ship that departed Greenock Scotland in December 1839 on her maiden voyage. It arrived four and a half months later in Melbourne on the 17th April 1840.
The ship departed Scotland with 157 passengers; some were self-funded, others were sponsored by early settlers already living in the colony. These emigrants were seeking to escape a life of poverty and to reestablish themselves in this 'new' nation where they and their skills would be of value to those intent on building a city on the banks of the Yarra. John Batman and his party had only made a claim upon this land five years earlier. Prior to, and at this time, aboriginal people occupied this area. The city we now know as Melbourne barely existed.
The journey, however, was frought with illness. It is thought that Typhus and Small pox spread throughout the ship causing the deaths of ten people during the voyage.
As the ship entered Hobsons bay it flew the yellow flag at its mast, declaring itself to be a 'fever ship'. As a result the ship was ordered to land at Little Red Bluff, St.Kilda, now known as Point Ormond, where a makeshift quarantine station was set up. This area had not been settled by colonial settlers at this stage and so it was at a sufficient distance from the growing city of Melbourne to prevent further spread of disease.
All passengers were quarantined until June 1840. Two camps were set up; one for the healthy and the other for those suffering from 'Fever'. A further three deaths occurred here, making a total of thirteen for the voyage.
Glen Huntly was only one of the thousands of emigrant ships to make such a journey during the mid 1800's. One can only barely imagine now, how arduous these journeys must have been for their passengers and crew. Overcrowded ships, poor quality of food, confined women and poor medical attention; the constant threat of illness, death and even shipwreck out in the middle of nowhere.
The high hopes and expectations of these new settlers must surely have been challenged throughout the trip and I can only speculate that a certain level of personal courage and fortitude sustained all those on board.
If my calculations are correct it will be 175 years in April 2015 since Glen Huntly sailed into Little Red Bluff thereby forging the roots of our suburb, or village, as it is now known, of Glen Huntly.
There were a couple of varying figures regarding the number of passengers and the number of deaths (thirteen) aboard the Glen Huntly. The ones I have stated are the ones that seem to be the most accurate and are those that are written into the N.S.W. shipping records.
oil on canvas
23cmW x 31cmH
For your chance to win this painting and a set of watercolour paints you will need to participate in the Glen Huntly Village Treasure Hunt open from March 1 - March 15th. Details to follow.
Paint in the Park Day 2013
Cricket Club
Caulfield est 1888
Paint in the Park Day is an annual en plain air painting day for artists in the city of Glen Eira. It is run by the Glen Eira Artists Society and has been running for about four years. Artists of all ages and experience are encouraged to participate. The event takes place in Caulfield Park and runs from 10am until 4pm. Artworks can be finished off at home or back in the artists studio, but are returned to the Glen Eira Town Hall for an exhibition that takes place from the 2nd of December until 16th December 2013.
This years event was the second one that I have participated in. It would have been tempting for me to have "called in sick" for last Sundays event given the chilly weather and the fact that I had had a big day at Flemington the day before! However, it is an event I would not miss……"for all the tea in China", as they say.
Painting in public can be somewhat daunting. You have to contend with packing all your gear, the weather, people looking at you and errant dogs who are inclined to see if your paints are edible. Overall, it is an experience that is challenging, but it can be rewarding. The atmosphere is terrific and the public are generally enchanted. The music played by the city band in the rotunda is another dimension that adds to the convivial atmosphere.
I set up beside the cricket oval as I wanted to capture the clubrooms and the activity of people in and around the building; it also follows on well from my paintings of footy ovals and their clubrooms. We are limited to a canvas size of 40 x 50cm so that determined the size of my painting. I stopped by the ground during the previous week to determine where I would camp, factoring in where the car would be parked and how far I would have to walk with my stuff, given I had packed for every possible scenario. I also did a sketch. Once I had set up my working space on the day, I embarked upon my work just after 10am.
We all know the day was cold, but I can't tell you how cold I was by the time I finished up around 3pm. I was fine until about 1pm when my husband brought me some lunch and coffee, but after that the freeze set in; I guess due to a lack of movement. I would be surprised if you could not detect a quiver in the brushstrokes especially the fine ones required to finish off some of the details. Despite the cold, I was amazed at how quickly the time passed. I did not finish my coffee because I was so engrossed in what I was doing. The breeze was moderate, but did not hinder me greatly. The odd insect got stuck in the paint; one in the sky so I left him there. There also seems to be some pollen that fell from the tree above me which created a fine white speckle in some areas. A dried up blade of grass also landed on my canvas and on the grassy bit so I have also left that there too.
As for the cricket club…..all clubrooms can have that sterile, dull and municipal look to them from the outside when not in use. So I was intrigued to see the change take place from 'not in use' to 'in use'. When I arrived the clubrooms were closed, locked up and with no one around. Gradually over the period of the day Caufield Cricket Club came to life. The council groundsman arrived to prepare the ground hours before the game scheduled for midday. He was busy doing all manner of things that I had no idea about lifting tarps, marking lines, setting out cones and putting up banners. Slowly, the cricketers arrived. They warmed up and donned their gear in preparation for the game, firing each other up with lots of banter, pumping each other up…"carn boys, carn boys…. go freddie" etc etc. You could feel their energy.
Whilst the game was entertaining, my focus was mainly on the clubrooms. The game started with no spectators other than the batters awaiting their turn. By 3pm people had congregated under the veranda, leaning against the veranda posts and grouping together in twos and threes for conversation, breaking at times for the odd falling wicket and the change of over. Scorers sat at their desk, concentrating with due diligence.
I managed to get the painting done with some finishing touches added during the week. I had a few visitors stop by to look and comment, including some young boys going off to play soccer on the ground behind me. They were intrigued and suggested I paint them next year and to make sure I paint "their muscles". Another fascinated passerby declared my painting was "3D".
At the end of our days painting, myself and the other 20/30 participants of the Glen Eira Artists Society regrouped around the rotunda. We displayed our works and discussed with each other our varying experiences and results. It is always fascinating to see how differently we all take and translate our view of our public space…Caulfield Park.
All is good.