Current Exhibition

My current Adelaide Festival exhibition:
Oratunga opening 14th March 2019 for two weeks:

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/oratunga-af2019?venue=166%3A1111

Oratunga Artist Statement

Having lived the first half of my life in the shadow of a great mountain I yearn for mountains.
With my mountain yearnings and my emigration tears, I struggled with close horizons, flat landscapes, and the loss of old friends. I was therefore destined to explore the Flinders and to seek like-minded people in my adopted country. I slowly grew to love these ranges on countless overnight hikes and more recently through this inspiring small group of Oratunga artists: Chris Langlois http://chrislanglois.com.au/ Tricia Ross https://triciaross.com.au/ Liz Butler https://butlerliz.weebly.com/ and Sue Boetcher https://www.gallery247.com.au/sue-boettcher

My paintings in the Oratunga exhibition, are for me, reflections of my moment of awe as I gaze towards the distant blue mountains. Being in nature lifts me out of the “everyday”. Whether painted en plein air or back in the studio, I would like these works to communicate both wonder for nature and the wordless experience of feeling small in a landscape. This untranslatable feeling often comes with some exertion, a steep ascent, a moment of triumph at the summit, exhilaration and a touch of fear. For me this brings a moment of utter clarity and peace with life and all that is important as if the perspective of distant horizons from an elevated viewpoint somehow puts “stuff” into perspective.
Nature and big landscapes, as well as painting, feed my soul. Natural beauty ignites the fire in my belly for conservation as we face the consequences of the Anthropocene and the fact that we need to feel part of nature.