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Member of the International
Society of Marine Painters
Signature Member of the
Australian Society of Marine Artists
Member of the Australian
Guild of Realist Artists
I have always been interested in boats and the water. In
my early years I helped my father with the maintenance of
his small motor boat and during my teenage years sailed
in a variety of dinghies including Sabots, Moths, Gwen 12s
and OK Dinghies on Albert Park Lake and Port Phillip Bay.
The time that really gave me a feel for the sea was in
the 1970s when with three others, I shared in the purchase
of a beautiful traditional wooden ketch, learnt celestial
navigation and spent six months sailing from Melbourne to
Sydney, then to Lord Howe Island before continuing to Noumea
and south to Norfolk Island and New Zealand. The preparations
for this trip included reading many books about small boat
cruising including those of Eric and Susan Hiscock, Joshua
Slocum's voyage in Spray, and those of other long voyages
in well founded small yachts. This trip gave me a feeling
of great respect for the changing moods and the power of
the sea.
It was also during this period that I started building
some models of yachts and dabbled in the odd marine drawing.
In the intervening years I have built a number of small
model yachts including replicas of the Spray, the Tumlaren
class, the beautiful 'J' boats as well as the old fishing
smacks, and over the past fifteen years I have spent more
time working to portray some of these craft in paintings.
Although my business career limited my time to pursue these
other activities, it did give me the opportunity to visit
many art galleries around the world and to view the originals
and study the painting techniques of many marine artists
including Thomas Hoyne III, John Stobart, Winslow Homer
and Montague Dawson. One of the most impressive exhibitions
I attended was at the Royal Exchange Art Gallery in London
with a display of a large number of Frank Wagner's paintings
of superbly detailed and lively views of yachts of the early
1900s.
My paintings are mainly in acrylic or oil, and cover a
range of scenes from the beautiful America's Cup yachts
to the small sailing dinghies of current times, as well
as seascapes in which I try to depict the many moods of
the water. A particular theme that I am specialising in
is the early small cruising yachts that ventured thousands
of miles across the oceans, before the advent of all the
modern technology, with owners who either sailed solo or
with a minimal crew. Before painting these yachts I read
the books of their voyages, study the yacht's lines, and
other intimate details of the rigging and fittings. By the
end of the painting I feel that I am also aboard the vessel
and experiencing part of the voyage with the air whistling
in the rigging, the spray in the air, and the warmth of
the early morning sun taking effect after a cold night on
watch….
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