Brothers and Sister - Postcard of the Horatii

A portrait group I painted for Julie O'Brien of her cousins in New Zealand for Christmas in the year of COVID

 

 

The interlocking gazes in the photo I started with reminded me of the brothers in David's Oath of the Horatii somehow and the pic also had a Norfolk Island pine or some other Araucaria in the background, so I found a view with some more to stand in for the severe McDonald's arches in David's neoclassical allegory of duty and filial piety(and murder of siblings and spouses in their name - this is the Pacific version so there are no wailing women or terrified children).

 

 Pictorially the columns are kind of turned on their head - like the trick Marx pulled on Hegel. Living(and dead) trees, not polished stone columns create a dramatic angle, not holding it aloft but emerging from it underfoot!

Fun and games!

 

 

 

A portrait group I'm doing for Julie O'Brien of her cousins in New Zealand

 

The old Bushels factory

 

 

Thanks to Robert Smith who put me up at his place in Concord so I could start this view of the old Bushell's factory behind a mangrove tree in the river, and with one of the zillions of identical south Florida condos that cover the old factory sites of Cabarita

 

Peter Urquhart sings- Video at Anvil Rock

Pete got offered a slot in Carols by Candlelight, a fundraiser for Northern Irish childrens charity NSPCC. I got Charles Freyberg to drive me up to Blackheath at the top of the Blue Mountains.

Pete took us out to Anvil Rock where he read a story he was entrusted with in Arnhem land, the origin of the Morning Star, a tale of death and rebirth. Where we were sitting is a massacre site

He followed this with his song Brothers and Sisters accompanying himself on the viola. We were lucky that the afternoon was still, hardly a breath of wind over the peaks so the audio is good, and with the location it was easy to get good pictures

In the new year, after the show, I'll stick this up on my youtube channel and post a link here.

 

 

A painting from earlier in the year, showing the same view from nearby Govetts Leap

 

Doctors Waiting Room

 

 

 

I went to the doctors for  a routine visit.and drew the scene while I waited(something I want to start doing again more often)

Light Cloud over the Estuary

Thanks Malcolm for your hospitality.

I went up to visit Malcolm Smith for a day or so at his place by the Hawkesbury river at Brooklyn as I did a few drawings and photos and thought about painting, and printing

 

 

Boats in the Mangroves

 

The highlight of my stay was a ride around on the river in the little boat down under the railway bridge and around to a little beach with some sort of small clubhouse. We had a swim as as a storm built up and approached then got going before it got too close and the wind picked up. At which point the little beach wouldn't be sheltered much at all, facing south east

 

 

Balconies and hills, and one of the huge cuttings in the sandstone on the nearby Newcastle freeway. I'm looking for a good vantage point to paint a view with one of them. My dad, a civil engineer was very impressed by them, bordering on awe, when we drove along the road for the first time soon after its opening in the early 70s.

 

King St at Night

 This is a painting I began an age ago, just before COVID, and exhibited it in very sketchy form in the Spark and Out of the Dark, my fluoro shows from a few months ago

 

 

I went ut last night to continue. The crowd were pretty taken with my UV headlamp and the effect of it on the paint and Chalky and some of the crew from the Mission and the square outside the Hub sat down to keep me company. Siva, the dog vaguely visible in the foreground sat down to get in the painting, with some assistance from her human companion, whos name I can't remember now - I'll try to find out.

Below is the painting at the same stage under daylight

Wookie and Wesley

A portrait of 2 hairy dogs

 This is mostly finished now, though I'll stil keep touching up the highlights and keep adding more hair

 

hairy dogs in the back garden

 

 

 

 

Wesley and Wookie

 

Julie and Jon are animal lovers and they've aways had a pair of dogs over the years(as well as a menagerie of cats and ferrets etc) so I've painted their portraits from  time to time, when one gets old and dies and a new dog is welcomed to replace them. Tommy had passed away not long ago, and I'd been waiting for Wesley (at left)to grow up a bit before painting him with Wookie

 

 But then she grew ill and was diagnosed with a cancer, then died not long after. This is her a bit younger and healthier

With the mat blue...

 There's a few other paintings of these dogs in some  posts below,

The Harbour from Watsons Bay

 I went back out to Watsons Bay after a few months to have another look at this painting. The earlier versions of it are here

 

 

 

I've been twiddling procedurally over the water in the studio, looking forward to heading out to Watsons Bay with it one more time

 

 

I'm working over the water and sky from photos and memory before taking the canvas for another ferry ride to the spot in Watsons Bay

 

Thanks to Caspian for helping me get out the door and down to Circular Quay where we found the Watsons Bay wharf had been closed for the week for renovations.

So, we got some fish and chips and hopped onto the back deck of the ferry to Rose Bay, where Cas waited for a fery home and I got on the replacement bus for the last bit of the trip. All in all a very pleasant trip in total contrast to the ordeal getting back, where I foolishly took the bus all the way to the city in late afternoon traffic. It took what seemed like an hour (and maybe was)to see the Golden Sheaf go past in Double Bay... After an age we finally got to the top of the hill in Edgecliff, and We still had 2 more to go before finally getting to the city for another peak hour bus to Forest Lodge. That's a mistake I don't want to make again, the commuting life is not for me!

Wookie

 Its the first time Ive had the brushes out for a month or more, so its a good feeling to start playing around with hairy patterns for a dog portrait or 2. I'll be getting on to a portrait of Wookie with her little buddy Wesley, so as prep I've done this tiny(20x20cm) picture of Wookie about 5 years ago when her health was good.

 

 

 

There's drawings of the dogs here

Brothers and Sister

 

Wesley and Wookie

I'm getting ready to begin a painting of this  pair of dogs, and enjoying getting back to a bit of drawing, even if its from photos. Wookie passed away recently so is no longer available for sittings, or walkings, but lives on in memory .

 

There's a couple of other drawings of this pair in this post

Family portrait

 

 

A few sketches as I start getting used to 2 brothers and their sister for a portrait(they're in NZ)

 

Boofhead

 

 

 

(the incredible lightness of) Waiting for patties to cook

Record Cabinet

Shamus asked me to make a record cabinet for Kate and Louis to fit a couple of metres of LPs. 

 

 

The finished cabinet except for its doorknobs. Kate saw the bits of turned bedpost and chairleg I'd cut off and sanded but not attached, and grabbed them from the bench to take home with it and fix on 

 

 

The matching table that Shamus made with the cabinet behind

 

 

Currawong visiting to check out the work, and maybe raid the catfood

 

 

doorknob candidates

 

 

with doors on

 

 

Top attached, now all that remains is more varnishing and attaching the doors, and some doorknobs

 

 

 

 

piecing together the top with pieces of oak, cedar, oregon and pine(?)

 

                              

 

 

varnishing the inside and the wings

 

doors clamped (almost)in place

Some of the pieces I'll make the top from, including a piece of an oak bedhead and a cedar step and part of the top of another cupboard or set of drawers

 

 

The back attached to the frame as this thing starts to take shape

 

 

The weightbearing part of the frame and the floor of the cupboard. I had a walk on it to make sure it doesn't flex

 

 

 

So far its just some pieces of cut and somewhat sanded timber. Caspian's been doing some of the work as he learns how to use the sander and saws

Bits and pieces of the frame, mocked up with clamps. There's still a few small pieces for the ends to cut, then it will be ready to knock together

These bits of floorborad will be the back, and maybe the odd piece will go on the ends and front

 

 

Cedar and oak etc planks for the top