Tree-trunks, Illumination and putting down roots for Canadian Coatsie

Well, its been a year here in Toronto and I have certainly put down roots, having had an amazing change of life and met so many wonderful supportive people, all so kind and interested in my paintings, not least of all my amazing wife.

Last month I participated in Le Symposium des arts (Art Symposium) at Domaine Saint-Bernard in Mt Tremblant, Quebec. Being married to a French Canadian helps tremendously – I am officially a Quebecois-in-law – and am slowly learning the language and the wonderful culture. Basically I nod my head and say “Oui ~ oui ~ oui” a lot and eat Brie… Jokes aside my Canadian family are wonderful and very patient with the new “Anglo” in the family – try calling any Australian an Englishman in any other way shape or form and there may e some type of disagreement… I’m happily forgoing any such inadvertent innuendo – when in Rome as they say – leap onto the pavement or be run over by a Fiat 500..!




It was such a wonderful weekend and I managed to jag a cash prize for the best work created at the Symposium – a gratifying achievement – especially given the field was filled with some well established local creative luminaries and talent which put me to shame, along with some fine exponents from other provinces, and as far-a-field as France.


The winner on the day in my hot-little-hands

So, being happy here in Canada hasn’t left me any less homesick for old Sydney town* and I’m thrilled to be returning home in October for the Nuptials of a good friend and the celebration of my amazing Grandmother’s birthday (the evergreen Joyce is turning 98 – still lives alone, in the home she and my grandfather built in 1947 bless her – great genes I hope to inherit).


So this meant painting a lot of scenes of Sydney which no doubt was a cathartic exercise for me. I’m choosing to celebrate this trip down-under by posting some of this work here over the next foreseeable proverbial few days… Or until I have more to show of Canada!


First up: the Manly Ferry Freshwater. A subject of a few paintings of mine (look a couple of posts back to see a painting of the "Collaroy"), this particular Ferryboat is named after the beach just north of Manly where my wife and I married, the very same restaurant my grandparents used to meet in during the war while my Grandfather – a Sergeant in the Royal Australian Army was manning a trench dug into the beach for a short time. I was a resident of “Freshie” a while ago for a couple of years – a great spot.


Manly Ferry Freshwater at Manly Wharf - Acrylic on Canvas
50 cm x 40 cm

The boat is pulling into Manly Wharf – running it’s engine in reverse, the prop in the bow (these boats have dual-ended prows and props) is churning up the water in Manly cove a beautiful iridescent green… I used to love watching this as a child, and I’m sure I’ll be just as fascinated by it when I visit there soon.

Watch this space my little Lemon-Drops. More to come.


(*Fond term for the city; not the crappy reenactment village fun park west of Gosford in the 1980’s)

The Fundamentals

Am taking up life drawing again; and really excited about it... Such a challenge to draw from a model and be limited by time. Expecting to grow my skills and get a few back which may have waned in recent years. I believe it's the foundation of all good draftsmanship.

Stay tuned for more..!

Batteries to Power - Turbines to Speed

The Dynamic duo - astride the Batmobile. What other car did you want to drive as a boy..? James Bond's Aston Martin DB5..? K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider..?

No way - it was the Batmobile every time.

I love the Batmobile because it feels like an actual character in the comics. And both the Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan films have addressed this notion. I love the idea of the car being like a half racing car/rocket sled - half tank, armored and full of gadgets. Batman's mobile office. Gangsters wouldn't know whether it was a machine or a monster - it arrives, deliver's mayhem and leaves in a cloud of confusion.

I also loved that idea Frank Miller and others have touched on that the Batcave is filled with tons of equipment and machinery, and somewhere there is a whole section dedicated to Batmobiles, every one of them for a different job, and their multiple roles and differing appearances keeping his enemies on their toes.

Hey - a geek can dream, right..?


Not the first time I have posted an image of it on this blog - probably won't be the last either. I had played with the idea of a lot of gadget and weapon ports along the body - barely visible but it kind of distracted from the notion it's a mystery machine to the uninitiated...



Acrylic on canvas.

Wonder Woman

I've been inspired by other illustrators blogs and galleries online and decided to start producing some work of the things that made me want to draw wen I was a kid. I attempted a Wonder Woman painting a few weeks ago, and it has been sitting, staring at me... Often I put work aside and go back to it; in this case I decided to go back to the drawing board and start anew - brand new image from scratch. So the rough I worked up developed into a pretty good digital painting... Now to put it to canvas..!

I really loved DC Comics growing up and still read them occasionally - total nerd. Wonder Woman always fascinated me - especially due to the 70's TV show Starring Lynda Carter. She was so tall and beautiful - I couldn't take my eyes off her. Everything the Amazonian Princess was supposed to be... And of course every little kid - male or female - did the Wonder Woman twirl with the theme music playing in their head in every schoolyard at some stage..!

The Manly Ferry Collaroy

Feeling a little homesick from time to time, which I think is pretty normal. So I thought I'd post a painting I've been working on of the Manly Ferry, the Freshwater Class Collaroy to be precise.

There is something very romantic about Sydney's Ferries, particularly the Manly Ferry for people like me who come from the wonderful suburb which splits the harbour and the ocean. Port Jackson is one of the most beautiful harbours in the world and the daily commute is less of a chore for the folks who make it every day.

I spent a chunk of the 1990's catching the ferry nearly every day and miss the serenity of it... The drumming of the diesels and the bow carving through the water is almost meditative. A good book, your feet up on the rail... Once upon a time a bloke could enjoy a quiet beer on a Friday afternoon as well... I think that's gone the way of the dinosaur thanks to uptight PC'ism and idiot drunks sadly.

And the sight of Manly Cove itself, with it's Norfolk Pines, pleasure boats moored, and the old ferris wheel (and way before that the Fun Pier), and the crowd at the Wharf Bar enjoying the evening as the boat pulls into Manly Wharf...

It's one of the best feelings in the world; it feels like you have come home.


I felt for a long time like I really hadn't finished this painting; like it was unresolved... But now I look at it, probably feeling a little sentimental, and I quite like the messy, gestural nature of much of it. The water, chopped like the wake of another boat, the masts of the Ferry loosely described, the bald canvas around the smokestack... I really like it.

"An intellectual says a simple thing in a complicated way. An artist says a complicated thing in a simple way."
Charles Bukowski

I've always liked Bukowski's writings and I like the sentiment here: you can say a lot with a little brush stroke, and If I was to model the entire boat like a photographic record, it would be kind of boring and static. Sometimes good things happen by accident, and compositions can be ruined by overworking.

For a few weeks there I felt like the sky needed a few clouds in it; but then again, I seldom recall the cloudy days and choose to remember the sunny blue sky days...

And I hope you'll forgive me - as beautiful an area as it is - when I think of my home I tend to look through rose coloured glasses, and imagine the sun is always shining on Manly...

Jewellery Sketches

It seems like all I post is old stuff but I found these old sketches from when I trained as a jeweler and thought they were really nice...

Oldie but a goodie...

Found an old cartoon of some fellers I worked with about ten years ago. I was between degrees and it was an unskilled health care job. Clearly it's a Simpsons style of the blokes I worked with and lacks the impact it would have on people who knew them. I was told by my colleagues it was pretty much spot-on... I believe a couple of them still work there which is astounding to me. Feels like a lifetime ago..!