Saturday 2 March 2013

Rodney is a Champion!

Rodney with "Outback Worker" at Wallabadah Art Show
Last night Rodney and I attended the opening of the Wallabadah Art Show. Wallabadah is a delightful bush town, also on the New England Highway, about 50km north of Murrurundi. They had their 4th art and jazz festival last night and Rodney and I entered 2 works each into the art show. Last year I won the champion prize and this year Rodney won with his fabulous work "Outback Worker"

The portrait is of well known Murrurundi resident Shane Brown. Shane expertly and adeptly removed half a dozen dangerous gum trees from our backyard a few years ago and we enjoyed his jocular and larrikin humour and were impressed with his wonderful craggy features. Rodney thought he would be a great portrait subject with his piercing blue eyes and strong bone structure.

Rodney has been exploring and experimenting with using media in unorthodox ways recently, for example using charcoal and raw pigment colour with bonding agents and rubbing them into coarse textured board, then overworking with thick and thin layers of crayon and pastel. When the various layers are built up he works in reverse to pull off colour, with rubbing, scaping and scratching to reveal the under layers, often right back to the board (a technique more traditionally described as sgraffito). This results in a wonderfully complex surface that is gorgeous to look at both up close and from a distance.

Congratulations Rodney! you are not only a champion husband but also a champion artist!