The nocturne as narrative

This was a difficult painting to photograph as it is
a) so dark and
b) varnished with a gloss finish…REFLECT!!!!!


Nikola Mitchell, a clever photographer down the road, helped me and photographed it for me.


I love the idea that this is a lovers meeting spot, a place to park the car and make out with the  romance of twinkling lights and solitude (anybody do that anymore or am I stuck in American Graffiti again?).

My kids told me that that is NOT what this painting is about.(made some eugh sounds and screwed their faces up,noses crinkling in distaste)  It's about a person, lost in the wild, who comes out of the bush to see the city lights in the distance….salvation! ( too many episodes of Bear Grylls, methinks)

Another friend said it was a spot on the rocks at the beach, looking across the bay to the seaside settlement.

I love that the painting tells a story for each and every person. I have been missing the "narrative" element in my painting, recently. I am happy to embrace that again.

Saying that, I am off to the beach with my friend Monique this weekend .No kids, no dogs, no husband ( wow, not the right order) , no meals to cook, no chores. I aim to paint a little, chat a little, drink coffee and tea , walk on the beach, dine out and answer to no-one else. Faaaaaaaaabulous.

oil on canvas
50 x 76cm

The speed of dark

I am painting "dark" today. No reason, just to play with darks. I find painting with darks (blacks, thalo green, aliz crimson, ultramarine blue) enormous fun and quite liberating. I love nocturnes, the surprise of light in the landscape and how everything looks quite different, magical. I can paint a whole canvas black and start far easier than a white canvas. I think of white and "blank" and black as " a start".

The normal, boring seaside town with associated industrial area becomes quite exotic. Elements of cartography and illusion.

But you know what is NOT easy? Photographing dark paintings!!!!

Seaside dark
34 x 45 cm
acrylic on canvas board

The title is a reference to my oldest son who likes to ask such questions.