Celebrating Townsville Exhibition - The Artists

The Oberon Tree is a large painting made after the artist had made a smaller study drawing from life while staying in a private park in Oberon, which is at the foothills of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. The artist’s initial study drawing referenced the strength and roughness of an ancient gnarled pine tree in the grounds of the park. The final, larger painting as shown in the exhibition took many elements from the initial study but also drew on ideas from Dutch and Flemish engravings held in the artist’s own private Print Collection.

Aegidius Sadeler and Jan van de Velde are two artists who have been a strong influence on the artist’s recent work. Their work often focused on the grandeur of landscape and the way it dwarfed the people who were travelling through it.