Ashton Grove Exhibition, Wellington

This is my first solo exhibition outside of Marlborough. I have made about 14 paintings, nearly all of them very large. About half are of the style that people seem to reliably love the most, ie. my stylised birdscapes set in the Marlborough sounds.


This is the style I originally started with, and to anyone who sees these paintings it is obvious that one of my childhood art heroes was Don Binney. I was wandering around the National museum in Wellington when I was about 12, looking at hundreds of paintings. After an hour or so my brain was totally full and turning foggy. Then, out of the blue, a huge painting jumped out of the masses to totally clear and reinvigorate my mind. It was a Don Binney painting, of a fantail I think. Deceptively simple but impossible not to be affected by it. I guess that experience stuck with me through to the age of 25 when I began seriously painting. I was determined to leave out anything that diluted the power and/or beauty of the essential elements of any scene I painted.

While painting these nice bright scenes of New Zealand's spectacular birds I have been developing a very different style concurrently, which I will unveil at Ashton Grove. The paintings are much darker and more moody, with much scruffier borders between elements. One theme in this style that I am pursuing is that of Ernest Shackleton leaving his men behind in Antarctica in a suicidal attempt to get help by sailing a tiny lifeboat to basically South America. If ever their was a dark moment in history that was one of them. Both parties involved must have been pretty sure this last ditch action would lead to everyone's deaths. I wouldn't normally go to such a sad place apart from the fact that Shackleton miraculously pulled off the journey, borrowed a ship and went back to successfully rescue his men.


"Shackleton leaving his men"

Detail from "Shackleton leaving his men"

An extract from Shackleton's own book: "The men who were staying behind made a pathetic little group on the beach, with the grim heights of the island behind them and the sea seething at their feet, but they waved to us and gave three hearty cheers. There was hope in their hearts and they trusted us to bring the help that they needed. I had all sails set, and the ‘James Caird’ quickly dipped the beach and its line of dark figures." For the story of the boat rescue by Shackleton click on this link: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/s/shackleton/ernest/s52s/chapter9.html

For the entire book click on: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/s/shackleton/ernest/s52s/


Then there is my beloved Okaramio Church. The one below is my favourite rendition so far, the first rear view version featuring the holy long drop.
"The Holy Long Drop: Okaramio Church"