Dear Artist, Here in Sydney, Australia, paint colours have names such as Australian Ghost Gum, Australian Sky Blue, Southern Ocean Blue, Travelling light: Ray Bradbury in wandering studio mode, a common sight since he didn’t drive. Australian Sienna, Mars Grey,…
Dear Artist, A question I’ve been asked often by students is, “Why do you paint mainly landscapes?” Some universities are still announcing that painting is dead, and that landscape painting is particularly dead. However, this is not something that I’ve…
Dear Artist, I’m standing in a white room with a digital projector that blasts a square of white light on a white wall. In the centre is a shaky drawing of a light switch. A cartoon finger comes up from the…
Dear Artist, Several artists visited my studio to pick up their paintings that I’ve been using for a small research project. With each friend I came around to asking the same question: “What’s firing you up these days?” The answers were…
Dear Artist, I recently spent an evening at a comedy club in North Melbourne. Headlining was a grey-haired, plaid-shirted guy who jokes about local conveniences, including the technological prompts that pepper modern life — the talking grocery store bagging station,…
Dear Artist, Something I’ve learned from the sending and receiving of letters is the defiant individuality and uniqueness of creative people. Beginners and seasoned professionals: each and every one of us is a sovereign unit. Intuitively, we tend to guard…
Dear Artist, A new friend recently invited me to her weekly Melbourne life-drawing group — “Roar Draw” — (antipodean-pronounced “raw draw.”) “I’m so excited,” she said. “One minute and two minute poses, and I love to use my left hand.…
Dear Artist, At no time in our progress do we stop wondering what the secret is. Sometimes I think just knowing that there’s more than one way to paint a tree is the main part of it. The idea is…
Dear Artist, At the St. Kilda pier in Melbourne, Australia stands a marina, boardwalk, Edwardian-era kiosk and a rocky breakwater jutting out into the long tidal flat of Port Phillip Bay. Prevailing winds from the Tasman Sea sweep an outstretched…
