rampagethank you , that is much better...still love the middle...

rampage
thank you , that is much better...still love the middle one...great sunset, they are all good...
I am guessing your mum either lives in the country, or travels there for those landscapes

Hajji, great critique, thank you.
I know the art work has to stand alone, speak for itself, first impressions count, and they are lasting impressions.
I am not making excuses, but I thought I would add a bit of a story about each.

BTW, I do not like pretty pictures, I leave that to the others....I like to capture a personality, character, mood

Vo Rogue was one of my favourites, he was brilliant on the track, but an arrogant bastard otherwise, a real handful for his handlers, a larger than life personality. I was trying to capture the arrogance, the mood....a traditional portrait was not what I was looking for. If you are horsey, you will know what I mean. Horses are like people, all different with very distinguishing features, personalities etc.

My dear brother had a couple of horses like the Rogue, they were a damn handful to look after, and train etc. They knew they were good, they were outstanding creatures, and they behaved differently to the other horses.
These horses are the ones that break records, and outperform on the track or in competition.

I prefer to paint action shots, of the horses racing, rather than classic portraits. Testa Rossa was another, similar to the Rogue.
I won some competitions when I was young, as a teenager with my drawings of birds and horses.

The first painting is a young foal about 6-8months old, she was waiting at the fence for her young mistress (my daughter) to arrive. I have not completed the other half of the painting, with my daughter looking up to her. I stuffed it this week. I added Glass Coat to her neck, which shows as the shine in the photo.
Rembrandt, Monet, Stubbs, Whistler are some of my favourite artists. I greatly admired Namitjira's work, with beautiful watercolours and magnificent gums.
There are about 3000 local artists in this area, and I think most came and looked at some of my work, when I took it to Trash N Treasure, over a period of weeks, to gauge public opinion (which was very good). I have seen quite a bit of the local societies work on display, and find it a bit boring with traditional landscapes and flower arrangements.
I am friends with a very popular female artist, and have collected quite a bit of her work. She tells me she cannot draw for life. Her work is predominately semi abstract.

There is a load of stuff coming in from China in the shops.

I find the most popular stuff at trash n treasure is from a bloke who trawls the garage sales, picks up old framed prints, and sells them for around $60, and the aboriginal artist who sells her small boards for $150 each.
I bought quite a few pieces from Tusk Gallery in Chapel St, from emerging artists. It is all modern abstract.
cheers
I would be lucky if I could make beer money.