Gaye’s Studio News

So many choices

5 August 2023

The recent sale of a painting I have loved for a long time but kept to myself is this one titled  Rock sculpture, inspired by the lovely rock formations at Jeanneret Beach  in the Bay of Fires Tasmania. This was recently exhibited as part of my Coastal set at Huon Doctors. I am  pleased it has found a lovely home.

My set of coastal paintings is diminishing so I set about painting two more in oils. I really enjoyed the process and pleased with how they have turned out.

The Art Society of Tasmania’s annual exhibition is coming up in late August and I have one large painting ready to enter. I am still undecided on a second. Time is running out!

I have been exploring a pink and grey palette with a more structured composition. These are nearing completion. I bought a few more oil sticks and liking one named manganese violet,used in these.

Having finished the two in my heart series featuring magenta (one shown below), I have started on another two.  It seems like I am rotating through my different approaches or processes. Is it boredom or my natural need to explore and experiment? I enjoy the realistic seascapes as they bring to mind times spent on isolated beaches. But I also love the textured, unstructured multi layered oil and wax process. Colourful random shapes and marks like this one is  are fun to do as well.

I have just started. I can completely lose myself in the process, knowing I can continue to build up shapes and marks until I sense it’s enough.

A brief foray into florals again, inspired by a frilly petaled red camelia from my garden and oil sticks. I find it is hard to find a balance between realism and abstraction with the real object before me. One part of my brain wants to paint it as it is but the other intuitively want to be more expressive and loose and free.  Its a tug of war often ending in a big mess.

The Art Society has an exhibition called Square this month at Lady Franklin Gallery and I have two works on display. Coming up in September are the Hobart Rotary Art Show at Wrest Point, the Art Society’s Annual at the Long Gallery and a new set of works at Sandy Bay Doctors.