I have just sent a new series of four paintings off to the “all things small and beautiful” exhibition in Tauranga. All works had to be 10×10″ – one of my favorite sizes to work in. The four works are all very similar in color and style and are all titled ‘sunset at the tidal pool’. They are loosely based on memories of seeing Dale Chihuly glass at an exhibition Tony and I went to in Hamilton on our honeymoon some 15 years ago. The sheer wonder of seeing his work in the flesh is still with me today. Dale’s incredible work can be seen here. 
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New paintings – sunset at the tidal pool
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Legato artworks finished for Italy in May
After sitting with these for a week or so, I have decided they are finished (with one possible, slight, adjustment still in my sights…). This afternoon I got the best photographs of them I could manage given the weather etc. The four men featured are:
Mansel Barker, my father, otherwise known as Ableseaman Barker.
Jack Robinson, my best friend Sandra’s father, who served with the 5th Field Ambulance.
Roy Lehndorf, my best friend Sandra’s uncle, who died within a few months of being posted overseas.
Alan McLeod, Margaret Prince’s father, who lost both legs to a Schu mine.
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LEGATO works – process photos
Last week and over the weekend I was working on the four mixed media paintings that I am taking to Italy for the LEGATO exhibition in May. I thought it was time I shared some snapshots of the process – I have not taken photos of the finished works as yet; partly because I am not 100% certain they are finished. I am living with them for a week or so while I eye them up! Here’s how they got to the “I think these are done’ stage…

Writing the story on the canvas 
First acrylic wash over the writing 
Adding copies of photos and old war documents 
Building up the washes and splashes 
Adding the reminder that war is a bloody business 
Painting in a peace poppy on each, helping to obscure the text -
Patea Freezing Works – Old Pipework IV
I have had the last week off work to concentrate on paintings for the upcoming LEGATO exhibition in Italy. So of course my new museum-grade canvases took a while to arrive… I used the time to do some more Patea Freezing Works paintings. Here is the latest to get a signature and coat of varnish. I love the rusty old red pipes against the purple buildings and mossy old walls.
Old Pipes IV is 16×12″ in acrylic on gallery wrap canvas and is for sale on my website and on Etsy.

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Patea Freezing Works – Metalwork VI
This is the latest in the Patea Freezing Works series. I haven’t done much on the series for a couple of weeks as I have been busy with work for the LEGATO exhibition in Italy. Tony and I are both going over for the exhibition as it is such an exciting opportunity. Anyway, back to the Freezing Works. This painting is based on a shot by local photographer Phu Tran; you can see his amazing photos on Flickr.
This work is 40×40″ in acrylics on gallery wrap canvas and is for sale on my website and Etsy.
The Freezing Works as I knew it is no more! The demolition work has been going on for over 3 months now and most of the above-ground buildings have gone. Most significant of all, in terms of the look of the site, the chimney has gone. This was quite controversial, for reasons I won’t bother going into, for now at least. You can see in the photo below, taken by Sandra Robinson, just what a mammoth structure the chimney really was.
So, increasingly, this series of works is from photos and from memory, rather than from photos and a daily view of the works. This isn’t a bad thing; the point of the series was always about the “remembered landscape”.






