Winter 2022 - Behind the Scenes

Inspired by the beautiful Japanese Maple near my studio and winter wattle, I have recently painted this autumn/winter abstract - That Winter Glow (now drying and preparing for framing and varnishing).

Another smaller piece also features winter wattle, also inspired by some pretty flowers I bought from Poppy and Fern Florist at The Farm Byron while on a short break with my daughter Maddie (I am from Northern NSW originally so always wonderful to come back!). Such a gorgeous florist and we got to meet Poppy the puppy herself! By the time I painted the flowers (stocks, snapdragons, salvia and poppies) the poppy petals had fallen leaving glowing stamens which added a nice texture. I added some gum leaves from home. While in Byron we also visited the Crystal Castle Maddie had not been before and how beautiful is the lotus mosaic below…..

Inspiration from the Farm | Oil Painting on Canvas - Detail

Also continuing to work on two large canvases. The first started as a very busy abstract but I knew would feature Australian bush and birds of some sort. it is about 70% there with a lot still to be added….. Edgar Poe Cat was intrigued by this one. These are some of the stages it has gone through in creating the form so far…. the bottom left still needs a lot of work. I am going to call it Rainforest | The Faraway Tree (Oil on Canvas 101cm square).

The other large canvas is connected to our time in France and those awesome flowers along the riviera and Cote d’azure. There were even a few eucalyptus trees and although they weren’t in flower, further towards Italy lots of wattle (mimosa) trees - apparently originally from Australia! Here is my progress so far. Lots more work to go on this one too.