
Plein Air painting made at Bradleys Head, Sydney Harbour

Plein Air painting made at Bradleys Head, Sydney Harbour


The sandstone edges of Sydney Harbour are lined with the twisting torsos of these Angophoras. Their smooth surface, skin colour and occasional lumps and bumps are very human like. I paint them as modern dancers as they twist and turn to position themselves to catch the light.


I spent more than a week painting the flooded rapids of the Nepean River and made 4 of these paintings. I was thinking about Courbet and the early 19th Century plein air painters and trying to get a feel for the way they saw things and the tonal treatment they gave their European landscapes. This one is pretty big and detailed for a plein air work and I’m pleased with the way the rocks show through the water.


This is looking south towards Coogee from Clovelly when the waves were huge and the sea was churning

A view from Coogee showing the Full Moon rising over Clovelly on a beautiful Autumn evening

The wet sand from the retreating tide give a mirror like reflection of the buildings on the headland as they catch the last rays of the day.

The Golden Moment on the Northern Headland doesn’t last for long but everything is transformed. This was in my show -Last Light, at Artsite Gallery