a place of reverie...

Tonight I felt like posting images from my work going back a few years. When I lived on the coast at Newcastle, 2 hours north of Sydney (Australia) I often swam at the amazing ocean baths at Merewether Beach, or walked along the nearby rock platforms or shore collecting stones, pebbles... there was always lots of washed up coal from the nearby Port.This pool overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and other local beaches, and the also fabulous Newcastle Ocean baths (not pictured here) became the source of inspiration for a great deal of drawing and painting over the 8 years I lived in this location. The Baths were quite vast in scale and this one sits at the base of a huge headland. Depending on the time of day, or weather, or month of the year... the water's colour and appearance varied a great deal. In summer twice a week the pool would be emptied and refilled with ocean water ...a few days of crowds, hot sun and sun-cream, and you sometimes couldn't wait for the pool cleaning to happen. I have other photos from winter where the pool was sparkling and clear and quite a delicious Aqua.This observing of all the fluctuations of colour and light became compelling and flowed back into my studio. Initially the work was representational, concentrating on replicating the colours and architecture of the environment. This soon abstracted into geometric form and colour...with other ideas I was reading about at the time concerning fluidity , micro and macro-worlds, water as a metaphor gradualy being woven into these abstract works. Whilst swimming underwater  when sunlight was strong I would keenly try and commit to memory the precise movement of colour and light by racing home to capture what I had just seen in inks and watercolours. I never photographed what I was seeking to capture...but deliberately chose to allow the fleetingness of it to actually get in the way of the attempt at the perfect rendition. Far more of concern was the quality of the experience of all these sensations and the musings that would result. the other post from tonight includes a few of the art works...some just ideas on journal pages...others paintings that have evolved out of this period of focus.