Tableau’ – the Tate Gallery definition: ‘Tableau is used to describe a painting or photograph in which characters are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and appear absorbed and completely unaware of the existence of the viewer.’
Country Victoria, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula have inspired these works.
As I journey around Victoria certain scenes, structures, light effects, animals, birds and stories capture my imagination and my mind instinctively begins to form a visual summary, taking note of particular aspects that excite me. This follows with a strong desire to do a specific painting and I often spend quite a long time sorting through what it is that I actually want to express. I revisit these places many times, also observing the animals, birds and people in the landscape. By the time I begin to paint on the canvas I have sorted through most of the problems and challenges, but along the way things always change, and I end up with elements that weren’t in the original plan, but make sense to me as the painting evolves. The final paintings are not realistic representations of what I originally saw but a ‘Tableau’ – constructed reality, much like a theatrical set where previously unrelated elements come together to tell a story.
