Landscapes & Botanicals in Watercolour and Acrylic
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I was trained in conceptual art and always believed that concept is essential to valid work. Living so intimately with nature, however, I soon found that I wanted to reproduce certain aspects of it. Pencil sketches of the breaking waves and watercolours of seashells were my first realistic works as a professional artist. I later began a series of small watercolours, entitled Butterflies of Ecuador. A friend at the time was a collector and I worked from his specimens. I moved on to the flowers in my garden, and eventually to landscapes.
Large acrylic canvases of the sea began to take shape when I started a series based on an old pier. I had first seen this pier in 1980 when it was still functioning for huge ocean-going cargo ships. The pier fell into disuse and began to disintegrate. Over the years I documented the "disappearing pier" in photographs. From the photos came a series on canvas, with the work progressing from extremely abstract collage to the final piece, which is high realism done in acrylic. Representational work will never be my passion but it allows me to recreate for others the physical beauty that surrounds me.