Slideshow of my 'Fat lady series' of paintings

Recent sales

A gallery just emailed me to say that they have sold another two of my paintings worth several thousand dollars. Many of you helped me with the yellow painting and thanks for your advice, obviously it worked. I sold 6 paintings over our Mundaring Hills Open Studios last week, so that's 8 recently which is great.  Things are looking up. I am having a show at the Perth Concert Hall over December and January and teaching my oil pastel techniques over the next few weeks until I go for our annual holiday... View or comment on Jeremy Holton's post »

Painting of Swan Valley near Perth, Western Australia in winter

Ink stage

Pastel stage

Final stage

 Cover of Artist's Palette  12th November 2004

Sketch 'for those who dare'

For those who dare

The edition of the magazine ‘Artist’s Palette’ on the 12th of November, 2004, had several pages on my work including a demonstration of my technique in oil pastels.

One of my paintings ‘For those who dare’ is on the cover of the magazine. This painting sold at the Melbourne Hotel exhibition and I remember that I discussed it with the buyer and he asked me to write up some of our conversation. I hadn’t yet gotten around to doing this but with the publication of the magazine the gallery has reminded me of my promise.

For many years I have done paintings of the beautiful jumble of buildings clustering the cliffs surrounding the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. These have been very popular and have developed into a series. ‘For those who dare’ is one of the series. Often they have included a boat in the foreground and this has become almost iconic with the white sails of a sailing boat breaking into the dark landscape and pattern of houses.

I think these paintings were originally influence by Gustav Klimt’s paintings with the landscape at the top or bottom and the rest filled with what I would call pattern. This can be a pattern of apples on trees, reflections on water or buildings on a hillside.

The effect is very two dimensional and in the plane of the painting. Interestingly, Fiona Rafferty of Challen and Rafferty Gallery, once mentioned that Michael Challen had also been influenced by Klimt and I you can see the similar designs in some of his work.

This painting was initially drawn in charcoal on Arches cotton rag paper and then painted with Winsor and Newton Griffin Alkyd Oil Paints. When I am painting I usually don’t control the image, I start off with a photo (on my computer) but quickly abandon this and let the painting take over. Consequently I can only discover what the painting may have been about (or make it up) after its completion. The title usually comes out of nowhere but it helps me work out what (if anything) the painting was all about.

I am not sure where the title 'For those who dare' came from.  I think the painting depicts the beautiful mansions on the shore of the Swan River as great castles or prisons. Somehow there is a bleakness about those empty windows and I wonder whether the magnificent ramparts of these expensive and large structures are designed to keep the outside world out or to imprison their inhabitants in glass, like specimens preserved in formaldehyde in an ancient and dusty museum.

It’s almost as though the buildings have eyes watching us suspicious that we might come and break the spell that guards their secrets. They are like old gun turrets on the cliffs of the English Channel waiting for an enemy that never came, now hollow, empty of almost everything except the unspeakable, smells, silence and memory. Those houses are the products of great wealth and I am typing this in a house of great poverty.

There could not be a greater contrast. When I am talking to my girlfriend, Waree, sometimes she will say something in Thai and receive a response from somebody several houses away. The fronts of these houses are usually garage roller doors which are rolled up all day so people wander in and our as they please. You sit and talk or lie and sleep on bamboo platforms on the veranda which opens on to the street where people, cows, trucks, vendors of all sorts keep passing together with buffalos and buses. You are never alone, there are always people who smile, talk, laugh and pick up the baby. When somebody goes by you shout out “Pai nai” (where you go?) with the reply “Pai ban” (go house) or “Pai gia kau” (go cut rice). If you are eating you say “Gin kau” (eat rice) and they may come and share your food. Loneliness is a state of mind but why on earth would we wish to condemn ourselves to solitary confinement.

So perhaps this painting “For those who dare” is a deep commentary on the psychology of buildings and our society or possibly it’s just a pretty picture. I leave you to decide.

Since I wrote this the person who bought "For those who Dare' sent me a lovely email about his response to the painting. I quote -   Dear Jeremy, Thank you so much for the words that go with 'our' picture. Jeremy, I must tell you that whilst I have always found 'art' attractive I have never experienced owning an original painting, I'm not sure I can explain the emotions I feel every time I look into the depth of 'the painting' that in now hung with pride and joy as a centre piece in my living room.

The vivid colours have brightened up my small home, but the strange thing is that when I stare into the scene I start to feel excited about having access to such a wonderful piece of artwork, but more than that the painting seems to sharpen my motivational senses to a level I have not experienced for a long long time.

So, thank you again Jeremy for your amazing creation and for thinking of me when writing your thoughts. I do hope we meet again when you are next in Perth, in the meantime I trust you will enjoy your new found happiness. Best Wishes and Take Care Grant.

Of necessity most artists work alone and are usually unsure about their creation. If the work sells it is encouraging in that at least somebody considers it to be worthwhile. Then sometimes you get emails like this one and you realise that almost incredibly your work can change the way that people feel. Many collectors of my work have told me that the paintings change the way they feel "When I feel depressed I look at the painting and it makes me feel happy". I am not sure why this occurs but I am very honoured that somehow my paintings can chado this. What more could an artist ask for.

Painting of Deep Wood Estate Winery, Dunsborough, Western Australia

Deep Wood Estate the original photo

The photo above is from the collection of images I have on my laptop. It is part of a larger panoramic view. I chose it because I liked the shape made by the dark trees in the centre, the curve of the hill behind and the distant view on the left.

Image drawn with bamboo pen

 In my drawing I distorted the original image to reduce the size of the road as I thought that the big area of road was boring. I brought the grapevines on the right in close to the viewer so I could utilise the chaos and pattern of the vines. I raised my viewpoint so I was looking down on the vines on the left and brought the central trees in really close. In doing so I changed the shape of the image to match the shape of my Arches 76 by 56 cm paper.

Initial colouring with oil pastel

 I coloured the image with oil pastels trying to create pattern and using a basic colour scheme of red/orange to violet/blue. I am more concerned about tonality than colour with the yellow/orange colours the lightest (apart from some white) toning through the reds to the dark blue violets.

Studio on the verandah

 I do a lot of my work on the verandah as it is cool there and I can interact with people passing along the street. The houses here are nearly all open to the street and people wander in and out in a very informal manner.

Tricky stage

 After getting the painting just right I destroy it by covering it with ink which I partially wash off.

Nearly there

 Then I scrape back into the ink covered pastel and rework the whole thing. While I lose some of the colour and brightness of the image I gain in depth and interest in the image. Also it is a challenge to recover the painting and almost a learning process as I get to know the work better.