Colour Wheel Promenade

The idea for Colour Wheel Promenade came from walking the Long Reef to Dee Why beach trail and seeing a rainbow on a stormy winter’s day. This coastal walk is popular with locals and tourists because of the varied light conditions. When walkers stand on Long Reef headland on a windy day, with the sun competing against blustering rain, they can see glimpses of vibrant colours mixed with pale greys and sea green blue. When conditions are like this the walkers are often rewarded with a rainbow on the far horizon or arched over Dee Why beach.

It was on such a sun-stormy day, in July 2016, that I spoke with the couple featured in my painting. I think they said they had travelled from the New England region of NSW to dog sit for friends in Collaroy. As we said goodbye a fresh rain squall moved over us and up went their bright umbrella. I asked if it would be ok if I pictured them walking away towards Dee Why and they happily obliged.

In the scene the green panel of the umbrella touches the shoulder of the man walking the dog. He has just spotted a rainbow on the far horizon and he twists his shoulders to comment and point it out. As he points the colours are transferred from his partner’s umbrella towards the view. The colour path emerging from his finger reveals the green bushes and pale sea green blue of the ocean. In the distance a sea bird flies against the wind storm and towards the calmer conditions of the coloured rainbow.

When I came across the photos again, I was drawn back to the colours in the umbrella. I’ve chosen to add this painting to my grey tone series where I feature two colours mixed with soft greys. This time I’ve decided to add seven colours to contrast with grey.

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I have taken the long road to discover that painting and photography can sit side by side, for me painting is my first meaningful creative outlet. I use my photography to inspire my artwork and I hope my love of composition, subject and light come through in my artwork.

I was born in Papua New Guinea and lived on a remote rubber plantation before moving to Sydney in 1971 at the age of 7. I was finding it hard adjusting to the city and my mother encouraged me to take up oil painting.

Having won an art competition when I was 10, the judges recommended that I study at the local TAFE on a Saturday morning. I completed one term but felt out of place with students who were all over 16 years old, so I did not continue. (I was also a TV junkie, we had no TV in Papua, and staying at TAFE meant missing out on Hey Hey It’s Saturday.)

It took me 40 years to rediscover painting.

The one constant in my work is to find a new project and during my break from painting I have been a project manager in Information Technology. This kept me in a world with projects, and here too I learnt that even the smallest piece of data contributes its meaning towards each information system. The other constant motivating me in life is to finish a project so I can start a new one.

My creative drive comes from knowing that each brush stroke I make contributes its meaning towards the completed work. What inspires me about art is how the smallest brush strokes, when added together, can radiate a meaning for the person who gazes at the painting far beyond the meaning of each brush stroke.

I aim to do my best in each project and try to avoid, at all cost, the haunting feeling I get when I leave a project unresolved. Even to this day I still think of my unfinished painting of a sailing boat peeping out behind photographic developing chemicals back in 1979. I was 15 then and my easel had been replaced by a camera and darkroom. A part of me still needed to finish the oil painting, but photography filled the void, so the unfinished artwork was thrown away in a frenzied darkroom clean out before my HSC exams.