Geese in the Lane

We visited a small village in rural China, where we discovered these geese, looking like characters from a children's book. So cute. I wonder what they thought of us, taking photos.

Watercolor 

30cm x 42cm

Now for auction on eBay

The Visitor on Wednesday

20 x 36"
Oil on Canvas

We visited this rice mill in Southern China, and were able to watch the farmers using the same method that has been in place for hundreds of years. I was taken with the light and shadows in the room.

"Rain in Venice"

Painting size: 17 x 26 cm; (6.7" x 10.2" approx) with about one inch of white paper surrounding.

Watercolour painting (watercolor) ready to frame

by Shirley Peters

Venice was very beautiful in the cold winter. These old shops were warm and welcoming, making it easy to step inside.

Bidding starting at $1 on Ebay.

Two roughs with blue water

Perisher Valley, NSW Australia

Oil on canvas, 40cm x 30cm

Venice Waterway

Watercolour, 20 x 30cm
SOLD

I've been doing some "sketching" for possible new paintings, and was interested to see the similarity in these two roughs, both feature a blue serpentine-shaped body of water. I guess it could be a 'before' and 'after' .. except that they are on opposite sides of the globe. (Isn't gravity amazing?)

Hunters Hill: view from Sydney Cove

My entry in the Hunter's Hill Art Prize.

Oil on Canvas

90 x 90cm

AUD $1200

Parramatta River from Kissing Point, looking east.

Acrylic! This is a new medium for me. I wanted to paint outside, but it's raining today. I used the back of the car for protection, and the few drips that fell onto the canvas didn't matter.

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Shepherds Bay from under Ryde Bridge

"Plein Air" painting. I set up my easel under Ryde Bridge for this one. I love the natural framing of one bridge by another. Parramatta River is about two blocks from my home in Putney. Luckily I did not attract attention. Joggers and bike riders kept going. One old classmate passed by and we had a chat.

30" x 40" (76 x 102cm) 

Oil on Canvas

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Workshop with Alexander McKenzie

I had a fabulous day learning new techniques from Alexander McKenzie on Sunday 27th March. It was held at the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery a few miles south of Sydney.

Alex instructed a 'master class' on how to break the process of painting into stages: the sketch, the blocking in, the information and mark-making layer, fine-tuning. Designed for busy working people who can only paint on occasions, this "stages' approach allows one to progress with a work... despite interruptions.

I love to see how artists arrange their paint, and this is Alexander's palette.

Alexander (with pony tail) is giving instruction to two fellow work-shoppers.

He had a half-started painting to use for demonstration.

Alex with his own work, which he used for demo-ing.

Children of the Pantheon

"Children of the Pantheon" explores the juxtaposition of youth with age, summer with winter, the new world with the old, and the possibility of Rome being inundated by flood waters when the global change finally comes... and the little nippers of Bondi Beach take over the world!

90cm x 175cm 

(35" x 68")

Oil on linen

King of the Hill

This snowgum is growing on the main range track near Charlotte Pass. It is one of many aged, weather worn trees that are surviving in one of the most exposed areas in all of Australia. 

Oil on canvas, 48" x 36", (120cm x 90cm)

Snow Gum Tree in the Australian Alps

Come Back to Me, Eucalyptus Pauciflora III

by Shirley Peters

90 x 120cm

Oil on Canvas

Available.
(Please email for price and delivery details.)

Carnival Time...

This is another work from my Basilica Series. 

The Little Dancer at The Great Wall

Oil on Canvas 120 cm x 95 cm

Sold

Always good to be able to post a finished painting.

I wanted to make a dramatic statement that relates to the tragedy of the building of the Great Wall, which was constructed on the Northern border of China in the Ming Dynasty. Thousands of men died making this wall, and it was unsuccessful in stopping the nomadic tribes from invading. I found it sad and beautiful.

Within this setting I have put the  'Little Dancer of Fourteen Years', a bronze sculpture by Edward Degas. It is a subjective link that pulls this great desolate garrison into the civilised world of French Art, or takes the little dancer to impossibly far corners of the earth.

I previous posts I have shown the original sketch and early photos of this work.

Relationships between the viewer and the picture

I'm paraphrasing Eric Fiscl here...

There's a difference between a painting of one person, two people, or a painting of three or more people. A painting of one person is a one-to-one relationship. You look at the single figure ... is she/he confronting you or turning away, or luring you?

A painting of two people makes you, the viewer, a voyeur. You can be witnessing the dynamic between them.

Three or more people can become a dynamic... it can be a family group, a work environment, or just people on the street. You can become one of the many, or removed from them like being in a coffee shop, looking out a window.

Fresh and Wet!

Surfing the Canals: Timeout
By S. Peters
75 x 90cm
Oil on (triple primed) Canvas


Here is the latest painting for 'Fresh" Exhibition.
I have already hung all the other works, but this one looked so underdone. So I bought it home and repainted it. I'm happy with it now. Of course, it will still be wet when hanging at the gallery, but not to worry. We didn't call it "Fresh" for nothing!

Boys Own Adventures

I have been preparing three new works for a group exhibition next weekend. 

Here are two works finished, and I have one more to go. I'll post the third one hopefully tomorrow night. 

Four Girls in the Notre Dame

 Just a rough underpainting at this stage. But I thought I should post to show my new project. This is the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It is very sacred, and we heard choral music when we visited. mmmm.

Mateship over Three Wars

A group portrait covering three wars.
World War I, World War II, Afghanistan.

Here are a few pics from my show in Melbourne. I'm hanging with family and friends.

Take the Shortcut

Oil on Canvas
10" x 10"
AU$120 plus postage. (Email me to purchase)
The streets of the city are wet, due to rising water tables. A small painting that is a study from my latest series called "This Change Thing".

This and That

Four works in my new "Beach" series
Each one 880mm x 530mm
Oil on Canvas

Love of Memory

Third work in "Beach" series
880mm x 530mm
Oils on Canvas

Cool Running

Number two in "Beach" series.

880mm x 530mm
Oil on canvas

Schedule of the Sun

First in a series of four... "Beach" Series.
880mm x 530mm
Oil on canvas.

Brunswick Street Gallery
Fitzroy Vic 2065
26th February - 11 March

I'm getting closer to finishing "Strange Arcade"... I have my paints out ready to go... but instead I need to drive across town and deliver a camera to our IT guy...!!
This shows one of the benefits of oils, I guess. They'll be waiting for me when I return!

Strange Arcade (unfinished)

I'm working on a new painting, and watching the tennis at the same time. (possible!) I thought I'd post this photo even though it is a fair way from being finished.

I'm also enjoying the warm night, and looking forward to waking up tomorrow and hearing that Apple have announced the new "iTap". (my guess for the unnamed tablet...)

Success at last

This is the forth time I've posted this painting, and it keeps dropping off. I wonder if I'm offending the nudity police?
I will make a final attempt to post my latest work, and see if it sticks.

Here goes...

Chinese Traditional Painting

I have just returned from three weeks touring China. We (husband, son, sister and brother-in-law) visited modern artists collective studios like 798 in Beijing, and M50 in Shanghai, as well as Traditional Art Museums. It was in one of these museums (in Guilin) that we had a worksop experience: a local artist gave a demonstration, and then we were invited to 'have a go'. It was fun.

I have booked a show

Today is a big day for me. I have booked my first solo show! It will be in Melbourne at the end of February. I have a number of large works to fill the gallery, but I need to do smaller ones as well. To celebrate, I'm re-posting this painting, as it is inspired by Melbourne: a city of lane ways and small cafés.

It's not rocket science, this change thing

>Oil on Canvas

121 cm x 102 cm

Here is my latest work in the Basilica series.

I am continuing on a narrative as follows:

The imposing, patriarchal architecture (the church) has been emasculated by flooding the chapels with high tide...

The new guard are young trainee lifesavers, well equipped for and welcoming of the uprising water world. They challenge the authority of the church and introduce issues relating to gender and climate disasters.

Two Eric Fischls = one rough layout for my next work... titled "Is it me?"

This is my display of recent works... ready for assessment.

I have been doing the Advanced Diploma at the Sydney Gallery School. I have not finished, but sadly, this will be the end of school for me. Its time I pushed off into the big world of art, and find out whether I will sink or swim on my own. One is very protected as a student... there is structure, support, advice. None of which will be around for me next year.
Yep... sad.

Each 'face' = 4 x 4 inch oil on canvas
These girls are from my cast of Nippers, used in the Argyle Surfers and St Peters Basilica paintings.

Dance Class, Interrupted

Degas' ballet dancers and their teacher are my inspiration for this painting. Removed from their expected environment of a stage, or room, they find themselves in a strange dark corridor, peopled with odd, foreboding figures. This painting is a new direction for me, facture-wise... it is sketchy and loose... thus depicting a process, rather than an arrival.
Oil on Canvas 2009
85cm x 85cm

I have a working title of 'Horses in the Basilica', but hopefully this will change soon. I am finding the title quite a creative challenge, as it can be continuing source of communication and mystery that adds to the work.
Oil on Canvas
90 x 75cm