Exhibition Kieta 1987

 Have been busy trying to complete a body of work for the Kieta exhibition. Am finding doing work with a young person underfoot is not as easy as it was pre-child, however I am lucky that I have help to maintain the house, garden and to keep an eye on Arron and entertain him while I work.

Oil on canvas, again in square format. A variety of subjects in 9 paintings.

I have aimed to show the atmosphere. The feeling of spending time in the tropics. The buildings, the landscapes, the clarity of skies and ability to travel by sea. That feeling of lengthy days by the water - in solitude or shared with friends. I have taken quirky attributes from various buildings and added them to others so that no one place is a true replica . . . however, anyone who has travelled extensively along the length of Bougainville from Buka to Kieta will surely recognize certain aspects.

Rabaul - The travel lodge exhibition. 1986 - January 1987

 Lovely to be invited to exhibit a collection of paintings at the Travel Lodge in Rabaul. We will use the opportunity to do shopping for the Tradestore and to show Arron the Big Smoke.

Because most of the audience will be people on holidays or expatriates visiting, I have decided to send a selection rather than keep to one theme. I have taken remembered images from our travels along the coast line and our visits to various cocoa and copra plantations along the Bougainville coast line, from Buka to Kieta.

Again, I have taken the liberty of including familiar images: our pet pig Grunt and our dogs, along with people we know, or have known. And I have aimed to relay a feeling of place rather than a true photographic image. 

I also feel a need to state that I would not manage to produce these works if I did not have people in our employ that helped clean the house, cook, maintain the garden and help look after our son, Arron. I am deeply grateful for their help which allows me to complete the art.

Once again I have chose to keep to a square-ish, smallish format.

Oil on canvas  Most are approx  24 inches x 24 inches.