Fire Haze: Pearl Beach Painting

Rob is a landscape artist and photographer with plenty of bushwalking miles under his boots in Tasmania and NSW. This experience provides a valuable resource from which he develops his landscape images. Through his chosen media, Rob brings part of the rich wilderness experience back to our urban homes as reminders of another world in which nature's rules prevail. Rob's interest in landscape photography started as a teenager in the mid-"˜60s with the gift of a second hand medium format folding camera. His photographic images are now captured in a range of formats including 35mm and medium format film, pinhole and digital. His preference is for black and white and infrared imaging with a range of final print toning techniques. For his landscape paintings, Rob's preferred method of working is to develop images in the studio from field notebook sketches, which are usually made in chalk, charcoal, pen, aquarelle or oil pastels. Rob studied with Stephen Wesley Gorton at Paddington Art School in the "˜80s, concentrating on figure drawing. Stephen's emphasis, at that time, in gestural drawing and the rapid development of anatomical form using broad areas of tone remain important influences in rendering Rob's landscapes. More recently, John Caldwell's tuition led Rob to a fluidity in approach followed by an exploration of different media through which to resolve ideas. Rob's recent exhibitions include: This Wild Thing (2011) Braemar Gallery Springwood - paintings of the Blue Mountains and Wollemi area (with wildlife photographers Steve Tredinnick and Graham Cam) Lane Cove Art Prize (2011) and Waterbrook Art Prize (2010) Waragil Studios Exhibition (2010) - images of the Blue Mountains The Colour Red (2009) - images of the Western MacDonnells and Mutawintje National Park Watching Paint Dry (2007) - images of the painted surface exploring the beauty of weathering Tasmanian landscape (2006) - Black and white and infrared images of Cradle Mountain and the West Coast Range. Rob has his studio in Blackheath NSW and is a member of Lane Cove Art Society and Primrose Park Photography where he works with both the printed image and audio visual presentations. He is represented in private collections in Tasmania and NSW.