Happy new year! I’m starting 2017 with paintings in two group shows. ‘Coastal Storm’ was selected for the On Water exhibition at Deakin University Waterfront gallery, showing 20 January until 11 February.

‘The Lake’ is in the Metropolis Summer Salon, running from 7 January to 28 February at 64 Ryrie Street, Geelong. The following month, I’ll be sharing more of my new works at Metropolis Gallery in a solo exhibition, Expressions of Landscape, from 11 to 25 March. Please pop it in your diary if you can make it down.

 
‘Gently She Falls’ has been shortlisted for the 2016 KAAF Art Prize, presented by the Korea-Australia Arts Foundation. The exhibition will be held at the Korean Cultural Centre in the heart of Sydney at 255 Elizabeth Street, opposite Hyde Park and Museum Station, from 25 November 2016 to 27 January 2017.

 
‘Cape’ has been selected as a finalist for the 2016 Len Fox Painting Award, a biennial $50,000 acquisitive award at the Castlemaine Art Museum. Initiated and funded by Len Fox (1905-2004), this prestigious award commemorates the life and work of his uncle, the influential and internationally recognised Australian painter, Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865-1915). The 2016 exhibition will be held from 9 October to 31 December at the Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum, 14 Lyttleton St, Castlemaine, Victoria.

 
Made a quick, but memorable, trip to Sydney on Sunday 11 September to be part of the Public Program at the S.H. Ervin Gallery. I was honoured to join Wendy Sharpe and McLean Edwards to discuss our paintings selected in this year’s Salon des Refusés and the state of contemporary portraiture. This was my first ‘official’ artist talk and I couldn’t have wished for a better experience.

Next week the Salon exhibition travels to the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in Melbourne, where it can be viewed from 25 September until 22 November.

 
I enjoyed painting the lovely Rosa for ‘Portrait Painters in Action’ at the Victorian Artists’ Society on Sunday 21 August. The event coincided with their current Portrait Exhibition.

 
I’m thrilled to have my painting ‘Simon Laherty, Actor, Back to Back Theatre’ selected for the Salon des Refusés 2016 and to have attended the opening last night at the National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney. The emotion I felt when I saw the crowd gathered outside this beautiful gallery, with one of my paintings inside, is something I’ll never forget. It’s an honour to have my painting of Simon hanging with the works of so many artists I’ve long admired.

From the S.H. Ervin Gallery website:
“Each year the Salon selection panel goes behind the scenes of the judging process for the Archibald and Wynne Prizes, to select an ‘alternative’ exhibition from the many works not chosen as finalists for the official exhibitions. They viewed the unselected works from the 830 Archibald Prize and 710 Wynne Prize entries at the Art Gallery of New South Wales to select the 64 works for this alternative exhibition.

The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections of the ‘official’ exhibition with works which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.”

I was punching the air Rocky-style when I received the call I’d been selected!

The Salon des Refusés exhibition is at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, 2 Watson Rd, Millers Point on Observatory Hill, The Rocks in Sydney, from 16 July to 18 September, then travels to the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Dunns Rd, Melbourne, from 25 September until 22 November.

 
‘Cardinal Sin’ has been shortlisted for the 2016 Waverley Art Prize, an annual prize launched 30 years ago and this year judged by Tim Olsen. Geelong Picture Framers had fun framing this one!

The exhibition opened 7 July and runs until 17 July at Waverley Woollahra Art School (WWAS) in Bondi, Sydney.

 
I was delighted to be invited by Courthouse Youth Arts (CHYA) in Geelong to teach a Masterclass in Portrait Painting as part of their Creative Program.

It’s been so rewarding to share my knowledge and experience with a talented group of young artists. Over three sessions, I’m guiding them through painting a portrait using oils. Each student is working on their chosen subject in their own style, ranging from expressive works to more realist.