I'm in stitches

Today I popped in to the Stitches and Craft show in search of fabrics and odds and ends (www.stitchesandcraft.com.au). Amongst the many traditional scrap booking and patchwork stands was a new area called Incubator, where contemporary designers could show their wears. The were some great hand made fabric prints, stationery, knits and jewellery to buy. Simple shapes and patterns printed in one colour on a neutral coloured fabric were selling really well.

After walking the three levels a few times, It's time to sit down, rest, and start riffling through my purchases.

Capertee

Well, it has been a while since my last post. I would like to thank some home renovations and a country break for occupying my time for the past month or so.

The cabin was in a top spot, and I mean a TOP spot, looking across the Capertee Valley. The winter weather gave the landscape some spectacular colours and light.

The photo above was taken from the cabin. I love the carpet like texture of the rolling hills and the curvy bark pattern on the tree. It's time to get drawing!

Since my last post, I've been patrolling areas looking for subjects that I think will work well as an illustration sequence. I would like to include a scene with water, so I set out to Elkington park in Balmain which overlooks the harbour. Above are a couple of photos I took recently. I set out at 8.30am, 12.30pm and 4.30pm to capture the different lighting conditions.

Today I am off to Turon, near Mudgee. Hoping to get some country scapes with a mountain goat.

Me and Monet

While working on my landscape illustrations, I have been revisiting some of the landscape artists I studied years ago. Claude Monet and the Impressionists (mid 1800’s) have always struck a cord with me. I am particularly drawn to their use of colour, light and textured brush strokes.

A couple of years ago I visited the Neue Pinakothek Art Gallery in Munich. The gallery was exhibiting one of Monet’s artworks from the Water Lilies series. I stood in front of it for a long while, I got a bit lost in the texture of the brush strokes... I’m sure I could almost hear the water.

I have been inspired by Monet’s obsession with the outdoors and the effects of weather and light on a subject. A great example of this is his painting series Haystacks. The idea of doing a series to reflect the change in conditions is something I would really like in incorporate in my Sydney landscape illustrations.

Unlike Monet, I’ve been visiting different locations armed with my camera to capture the lighting effects on a number of subjects, rather than taking multiple canvases out to the fields for hours or days. I’m pretty excited about this project, I’ll publish more as I go.