In my favourite place

My life began in 1953. When I was eleven we moved to Keilor, a small town on the outskirts Melbourne, Australia. From a young age I was fascinated by trees, clouds, stars, insects, and the nature of reality. I loved laying on my back gazing deep into the night sky trying understand the concept of a universe infinite in size, and I still do.

 

The process of creating a painting is something like getting my head around the size of the universe. Usually I have a vague feeling, and I start drawing, not knowing exactly where I am headed until it appears in front of me. Sometimes it pops out immediately and sometimes it takes years.

 

Every painting I do has something to do with the grand mystery of life in an endless universe, so I paint pictures of ants, birds, water, and all sorts of things. I love the feeling of being in the world I am painting while I'm doing it.

 

After finishing high school I briefly attended a couple of art schools, but they were a waste of time. It was the early 1970's. They weren't teaching much, and I wasn't learning anything, so I dropped out. Tom Wolfe's book, The Painted Word, summed up the prevailing state of affairs pretty well. 

 

I had a series of unedifying jobs for about ten years. Fortunately, at the age of thirty two, I  discovered I could make money teaching tennis, and that allowed me to paint without having to earn a living from it. Making money from painting never interested me. I preferred to work quietly, alone, and unencumbered by economic necessity, or the opinion of anyone else.

 

Until recently I haven’t shown these paintings to anyone other than a few close friends. I'm showing them now because I'm getting old and I need some money.

 

Ive been told it's important to be authentic in marketing, so I will admit now that I am a madman. I hope you enjoy looking at my pictures, and if you’d like to purchase a print or an original I’d be very pleased. I have lots more which will soon be added to this collection. I hope you enjoy them.