Australian landscape for sleep

 Terror acrylic and oil pastel on paper 72 x 40cm (2012)

The painting above marks the final work in what has been a study this year into the Australian landscape following the Alice Springs excursion in July 2011. All former works in this series can be viewed several posts ago. I've been confident with this medium combination of oil pastel drawn across a typically hot acrylic ground for the last six years; often it provides success in a sparing amount, contained in more or less the quantity of a sketch. The expectation with these works is usually that the reddish-golden background should be demonstrative of the Australian sun and subsequent reflection in the landscape. In the case of 'Terror' l also sense it provides a menacing quality and hopefully resonates with the infamous stories and fears of the murders and abductions synonymous with the Australian red center. I don't think l would (haven't previously) been interested in using this formula to capture the landscape and light conditions of environments elsewhere (Europe recently)

A new drawing series is now developing with a focus on sleep.
Enjoy the images to come.     

Jim S

New paintings, sketches and illustrations by Jim Shirlaw 2012

Coloured Wreckage 2012, acrylic and mixed media on paper 55 x 46 (cm) 

   

General Population Study 2012 acrylic and mixed media on paper 64 x 46.5 (cm) 

 

Study for Torn Trailer 2012 acrylic and mixed media on paper 70 x 45.5 (cm)

  

 

  #46 Reprise 2012 ink and pen on paper 29.7 x 21cm

 

 Sex Poem #46 2012 ink and pen on paper 29.7 x 21cm

Winter Page 2012 acrylic on paper 74.5 x 56 (cm)

 

 

Winter Portrayal 2012 acrylic on paper 66 x 47.5 (cm)

   

No Light Left 2012 acrylic on paper 57 x 42 (cm) 

Study for Birdsville Terrain 2012 acrylic and mixed media on paper 69 x 47 (cm)

Aggression Beach 2012 acrylic and mixed media on paper 80 x 50 (cm)

 

Cloud Shadow 2012 acrylic and mixed media on paper 70 x 40 (cm)

  December Territory 2012, acrylic and mixed media on paper 69 x 45 (cm)

Above are mainly a range of recently completed studies and illustrations made in the studio thus far in 2012. As mentioned in previous blog posts (readpalmforest.blogspot.com) the pastel works were largely sourced from an expedition to the Australian Northern Territory last year. This environment provided a brilliant resource to further practice with the palette i've devised for these types of studies; largely hot and earthly colours against a warm ground. There's still another two of these studies unpublished here, will provide in an upcoming post. The works here that appear starkly different ie monochromatic were mainly created around another trip to America and Europe over a portion of this last winter (our Summer) the two works with ink and pen on paper definitely profited from being in an environment where it was conducive to stay indoors for long periods of time; some strong romantic inspiration was reason to create them as illustrations to poems l was writing then at the same time; check out some of the earlier posts this year from the readpalm blog inserted above. Enjoy and please feel free to leave some feedback here if you like. More output well on it's way.  

Jim Shirlaw

ALICE SPRINGS TO SYDNEY

A six day voyage in July 2011 across the Australian red centre resulted in this new collection of snaps and assemblages of the legendary Australian outback. The car trip extended from Alice Springs in the heart of the Northern Territory back to coastal semi-metropolis Sydney on the New South Wales coast. Photography features (with many names and features in-between) Rainbow Valley NT, Chambers Pillar NT, Plenty River/Plenty Highway NT, Marion Downs QLD, Gibber Desert QLD, Birdsville QLD, Hungerford QLD and Dubbo NSW. Stops between days of long driving were short so hence a lot of the photography, especially the digital shots are mostly took traveling at over 100 km/h behind the confines of a mud splattered windshield. For this adventure l used three very basic cameras; a Canon IXUS 105, a Kodak Disposable 35mm ($11 at Coles) and a Lomography Diana F+ using NC160.

Jim S