Since I first knew all about art I’ve wanted to paint.   I’ve tried various techniques, actually that wouldn’t be the right way to say it, I’ve had a go at various paintings, but was never happy and usually got frustrated because I couldn’t do it.  I think I always thought that if I was meant to be a painter or an artist, then surely I should just be able to do it.  Apparently not.  I began to learn that all the old masters had training, and it is very rare to find an artist that has not had some training in their chosen field.

I started getting some lessons a few years ago.  It opened my eyes up to what I didn’t know.  Here is the painting:

It wasn’t bad for a first real effort, but I wasn’t totally happy with it and there are things I would do differently if I did it again.  The perspective is a bit out, but the chairs look good and I was wrapped with it at the time.  I did this while I was still at Uni.  After I left a guy I had met there, who did painting at the VCA, wanted to see if he could teach, so I became his guinea pig, and I think he did a good job of teaching.  This is the painting we worked on

I was really happy with this one.  The composition isn’t great, but I needed a subject so I just put all this stuff together on the bench in my studio.  It wasn’t terribly well thought out, but I figured it was good enough for what I was trying to do.  I liked the painting when it was done and I still love it.

The next two paintings were ones I did on my own.

This is from a photo of a store in the Block Arcade.  I like the opening onto an opening onto the stairs.  I thought it was a good composition and I set about turning it into a painting.  I think I did an OK job and, by far, this has been the painting that most people have liked.

I got this image from a play I was working on.  The phone and chair were part of the set and someone sat in the chair and I took their photo.  I was attracted to how different the red phone was to everything else and for me the challenge was to make the photo the centre of focus and not the person sitting in the chair.  Not sure if I achieved that, but it is, for me, the best painting I had done.  I thought I was really starting to get it all together and I was very happy with the outcome.

I know I can paint, so now I just need to motivate myself to do it.  I have to keep reminding myself that I love painting.  I also think, and have always thought, that I would have more success as an artist if I painted, so why aren’t I doing it?