I am exhibiting some exceptionally exciting new works of pastel landscapes at the Artistic License Gallery

You can find Artistic License Gallery at 48 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide, South Australia

Phone 8367 0174

Exhibition runs from 3^rd March – 1^st April 2010.
Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 5pm and Sunday 2pm – 5pm.

Enjoy the exhibition.

Regards

Murray

In the last couple of months we have been busy updating my website. It is now in a new format and is easy to find your way around.  The website has a complete catalogue of my original work and limited edition prints with their full details.

There are two exciting strands to my work at the present moment. Our hills are carpeted with the purple blue of Salvation Jane (Paterson’s Curse), combined with yellow greens of lush grasses makes for strong colours in an Impressionist style.  I currently have available smaller works with these amazing colours and larger ones may follow.

The other strand of my work is figure drawing. I am busy working towards an exhibition – possibly mid next year (2010), with Vanessa Size, a highly creative photographer.   Our model has adopted the Marilyn Monroe era look, with an emphasis on red and black which will make for dramatic works.  Our model leaves for an indefinite stay in England in mid December so am having to work with her as much as possible.  I will keep you posted on the exhibition details.

“The urge to produce brilliantly coloured works with highly stylized forms (see Pycnanthas Corella Hill, Afterglow and Vineyards with Red Trees) is returning.  These provide me with a strong focus on the exploration of colour”.

In October and November, I was invited to give tuition to the Art Societies of Gawler and Murray Bridge,  both were fun and enjoyable learning experiences.

Beyond that, crop harvesting begins soon.  I am always drawn to the marks of machines in stubble and, of course, my fresh greens will be replaced by the burnt olive of eucalypts in summer, dry ochre grasses and hot blue skies.

As you might gather, artists don’t run out of inspiration but of lifetimes in which to express them!

I hope you enjoy my latest offerings and do drop into the studio when you are next in the Clare Valley.

Best wishes to you and your families for a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Regards,

Murray

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What’s been happening at Corella Hill Studio?

Trees on a Ridge

The past year has been busy in ways that have kept me away from the easel and this website.

Health problems culminating in on-going chemotherapy – my fourth outbreak since 1997 – were the main limitations.

While I have been able to produce some works it has been slow and lacking in energy and my perception of colour has been seriously affected.  During treatment my work can become ‘dark’ (see Trees on a Ridge), however, when you see stronger colours you’ll know that the effects are diminishing (see ‘Blue Day or New Cloud Study).

In October 2008 I delighted in, and enjoyed giving landscape and figure drawing tuition to an art group in Renmark, South Australia.

The following month I was invited to give similar tuition to a very enthusiastic group in Katikati in New Zealand.

On my return an art group in Whyalla, South Australia, invited me to judge their exhibition.

In December 2008 I lost my beloved Mother at the age of 94, my equally dear Father having died in 1977.  While my mother’s death was expected, I was again confronted by my own mortality.

In late December I left for three weeks in Italy, visiting Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa, Verona and San Gimignano.  This was my third visit to Italy and will not be my last.  The vast Artistic wealth of its culture moves me deeply, re-affirms my belief in the “path ” I have chosen and gives me other ways of ‘seeing’ both myself and my work.

Blue Day

I always return with a strengthened desire to communicate my intense responses to my world in my own ways, and with renewed belief in the essential value to myself and society of what I am doing in my studio.  Of course the architecture, history and scenery are stunning, but for me it is the abundance of evidence of the personal struggles and achievements of artists over many centuries that leaves the strongest impression.

Before the interruptions began in 2008 I produced quite a lot of large figure drawings, mainly in charcoal.  Drawing has been a strength and passion since childhood.  I regard the figure as the ultimate drawing challenge.  I can get away with murder on a gum tree but not on the human body!  I am not interested in doing precise portraits but rather in expressing a model’s personality and my responses to that.  The model is purely a starting point for whatever may develop.

I may go into more detail about my figure drawing in a future update.

I am more and more concerned with the quality of light in landscapes, particularly in clouds (see ‘Blue Day), and in light for its own sake rather than being tied to any given form.  In a similar way my landscapes show my growing interest in colour for its own sake, such that it can be used to express responses to subjects or to colour itself.  In this regard Kandinsky’s struggle to liberate colour from form is of increasing interest.

As a generalisation, it could be said that my work is gradually moving toward being more conceptual.

I am still in the grip of dry pastels; they can give amazingly strong colours just for a start, but I can sense an outbreak of acrylics and maybe oils before much longer.

New Cloud Study

I contributed in a small way to a group exhibition in Adelaide in May but am not planning a solo show for some time.  I will have some originals at Pikes Cellar door and at a new gallery opening this September in Auburn, both in the Clare Valley of South Australia.  There are also several original figure works and landscape oils at Annies Lane Cellar door, also in the Clare Valley.

Most of these works are already on my website, or will be as I produce them.

I endeavor to keep my site up to date.  Should you wish for more information on aspects of my work, please let me know.

If you are interested in commissioning a work, having one-to-one tuition, or engaging me for a group workshop, send an email – preferably with a phone number, and I will respond as soon as possible.

Thank you for your ongoing interest.

Best wishes

Murray

Group exhibition in Artistic License gallery. Melbourne St, North Adelaide