Painting: Boy in Blue

We are mice in a maze, chasing lies spouted by corporate and political overlords. The closer we get to breaking free, the clearer we see the dead end ahead. But instead of crying out against the machine, we just hit the reward button and sedate ourselves with pellets of entertainment, illusions of meaning. We trade...

Painting: Chrysanthemum Bush

I love the cool, shady colour of early morning, just before sunrise. Everything looks so calm. One morning while I was at my neighbour’s house to steal her newspaper, I noticed a flower bush in her garden looking especially pretty in that gentle light, so I decided to paint it. Oh, don’t worry, I gave...

Painting: Paris Evening

“Travel is really great.” —Mark Twain Actually, that’s not the exact quote. I can’t remember how Twain put it; it was much longer and sounded better, but you get the gist. I’m sure anyone who has travelled would agree with him. Except my work colleague, Glen. He went on an eight-day South Pacific cruise last...

Painting: Imitation Roscoe Orman

I was devastated by the news of Roscoe Orman’s death. Orman, better known to most as Gordon from Sesame Street, had always been my favourite human on the beloved children’s television show. His acting had a gritty realism, uncompromising yet subtle, which complimented the Muppets perfectly. I determined to paint a portrait of Orman in...

Painting: Tropical Sunset

Part 1: Finding a Muse Searching for inspiration and examples of what ludicrously expensive art looks like, I came across Claude Monet’s San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk (not the real thing, but a small picture of it on my computer screen). I was mesmerised. It wasn’t just how Mr Monet had upped the value of...

Painting: Lilies

About a year ago, I was in the backyard gardening when I heard my elderly neighbour, Kim, hacking and spluttering like only a ninety-one-year-old man can. Poking my head up over the fence, I saw him there, through his open kitchen window, doubled over and gagging. I yanked the gardening gloves from my hands, put...

Painting: Balloon Face

When we were kids, my friend Travis Barnell and I used to watch hot air balloons flying and/or floating (I still don’t really know how they work) above the coast near where we lived. They seemed so magical, those airborne rubber orbs (if that’s what they are made of—I never bothered to find out). Travis...