Tree

 

A.Finnie. "Birdie Park" (detail) 2011, acrylic on canvas 40x50cm

Well, guess what I've been doing? 

Yes, I haven't been visiting blogs, I haven't been surfing. Instead I've been ringing up news papers, designing posters, thinking up wonderful things to say about myself that slightly resembled the truth, I've been trying to buy bottles of wine for less than three dollars that don't have the distinct aroma of Eau de Chat Derrier, I've been addressing envelopes, googling addresses, licking stamps (some of them taste like strawberries) and , above all, trying to find a pair of trousers to fit me on opening night that doesn't make me look like an upside down version of one of those people who blow up a washing glove and stick it on their head so they look like a chook on steroids (chook is Australian for chicken eg Hey Bruce! Get aload of that old chook over there sitting near the bill a bong)

This for Illustration Friday's "Tree". (So wasn't the Tree of Life half tempting, aye?)

I hope you forgive me for not visiting :( Life is due to return to normal any year now....

Hugs from Oz!

PS we even scored a segment in the Trevisan International Art newsletter :)

A.Finnie. "Yellow Chrsyanthemum"  2012, acrylic on canvas 40x50cm

Jennifer.Finnie. "Lazy Summer" 2012, acrylic on linen 30X25cm

 

 

 

 

Robert.Birch "Baraka 1" acrylic on canvas 40.5x40.5cm

Practicing one wall of the "hang" in the studio.

The Absence of Pain

The first time I thought how pleasant it might be to extremum vitae spiritum edere was in 1994.

I was sitting at a set of traffic lights at the corner of Turton and Maitland Roads in the city of Newcastle. The lights were red, it was 10 past nine in the morning, I was heading off for work and I had on a starched white shirt, black pants, and a yellow ochre tie that my wife had made me.

The time of year was late winter, the morning sun was in the northern sky and beamed through the windscreen. The sun made me a little drowsy as I watched the traffic buzzing past.

The suggestion of the pleasantness of death, of non-being, crept up on me like a soft shadow. It started with a smell - the smell of fresh loamy dirt infused with the comforting aromas of rotting leaves.  

A Book of Paintings

Oh dear, sorry to be away so long.

I've been getting ready for our next show here in Newcastle (painting framing getting invites done blahblah :) ) and part of the preparations have been to get this book of my paintings organised.

It's 196 pages approx and I had to go through all my old computers and notes to track down images and find out who bought the paintings for the providence and the sizes and the.... so my brain is swollen :)

Just like Newcastle, the place where I do most of my paintings. Swollen in a bad way, we're busy pulling down our history so we can build as many apartment blocks as possible. But hey, that's progress.

Andrew Finnie: Newcastle Painter by Andrew Finnie |

And in a way, that's what the book is about. Recording the place as it once was, before the 'swell' of development overwhelmed the town.

I have no idea how it will print out as I'm still waiting for the 'galleys'. I'd be honoured if you have a look if you have the time. There's even some pics of my ugly head in it. I will photoshop someone else's head on for a later edition. I'll be catching up soon, promise.

I have designed it for people who collect my work here in Newcastle.

Below is a double page spread from the book (note the gutter you have to fiddle with the image at the gutter!) and some invites to the show.

thank you for looking :)