Marine Paintings – Great Barrier Reef
Famous for the accuracy of the creatures in his underwater artwork, John’s artwork is like having an aquarium in your home.
John’s artworks feature in collections in Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Japan and the USA
Sometimes John often uses a brush, but sometimes it’s a palette knife. It’s nearly always using Artists’ acrylic paints, (acrylic paint is more durable and doesn’t crack as oil paints do). The subject matter varies largely depending on what’s happening in his world. John’s Marine Painting series draws on his early years as a member of Broken Bay Game Fishing Club and more importantly, on his years of sailing, and snorkeling around the islands of the Great Barrier Reef in the Whitsundays Queensland where John lived for many years—creating imagined Great Barrier Reef paintings. John goes to great lengths to make his imagined scene realistic and accurate. So that he understands in detail each fish, John first paints A4 size studies of each fish before adding to the main larger painting.
Other artworks
Artwork created using a palette knife gives a rich impasto to his artwork, textural as in the ‘Workboots’ painting seen above. Using an airbrush gives vivid intense colours as seen in the artwork ‘Machinery’ seen above. Airbrush art takes longer and needs to be controlled and planned, so it doesn’t easily lend itself to the emotional responses such as is needed in Soundscapes. A palette knife allows an artist to be more expressive. Abstract works take John just as long as his detailed marine paintings. Abstract works need much thought and usually reworking multiple times.
Art Prints
Most of John’s artworks are also offered as art prints on stretched canvas, ready to hang, or on artpaper unframed.