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!