Some Paintings for the Studio Tour
The weekend of May 11/12 2019, the artists in our town put together the Neuse River Artists Studio Tour. I entered my (newly refurbished) studio in the tour, along with three new paintings for the occasion—an oil painting and two acrylics. Here they are, with an introductory ink-and-wash.
The Great Ocean Road
Some years ago Mary and I took a drive out from Melbourne, west along the Great Ocean Road. As this used to be gold-rush country, it sports a bronze statue commemorating those prospectors.
As an aside, I really like the way the Australians and New Zealanders have created these types of memorials to regular people, and not just, you know, generals and such. I think that might be good subject matter for some future paintings.
The 12(-ish) Apostles
I won’t bore you with a background of these rock formations, off of Australia’s southern coast. You can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Ocean_Road . Suffice to say, standing on the cliffs above them, hearing the surf bashing against them, is awe-inspiring.
I first did a 12×9-inch oil painting, in a detailed manner:
A view of the 12 Apostles rock formations off the south coast of Australia
I was pretty happy with it, but thought a larger canvas, 20×16 inch, would be better, and tried some more dramatic brushwork. Since the Tour was looming, though, I switched to acrylics:
A view of the 12 Apostles rock formations off the south coast of Australia
And I just love the story of The London Bridge, a promontory that once had two arches. However, one day, the larger one fell down—stranding two people out on the point! They were airlifted off, thank goodness!
London Bridge rock formation off Australia’s south coast
