Hartley

122 x 200cm

acrylic on canvas

After nearly 40 years of exhibiting and 18 years living in the Blue Mountains/Central West.

I wanted to pull together my strengths as an artist, my gestural drawing and control of liquid mediums and my highly detailed brushwork to capture the soft evening light as well as the stark bare beauty of the Central West.

The yin and the yang of the soft fluidity of the liquid acrylic combined with the strong colour and line work of the acrylic paint.

 Although I no longer grind my own ink these teachings have informed my works on paper since learning the fundamentals of Sumi-e The Japanese way of the brush. As a teenager, I was so lucky to have a well-known Sumi-e artist in Kuranda where I grew up, who taught me these techniques. Similar to the Taoist calligraphy paintings it was all about balancing the yin and yang, using the whole arm and shoulder to make marks, loading the brush and achieving the right gradation of ink to water. I have since modified these techniques, making them into my own style.

These works are made with liquid acrylic and acrylic polymer paint on cotton canvas with sustainable hardwood stretchers.