Perspectives

Isn’t it delicious to do something you’re not usually allowed to do? Isn’t it just as wonderful to spend time with people you really admire? Most of the time I’m in my studio and it is the same for many artists I admire. Now and then our paths cross and that’s a real thrill for…

This painting – East Fremantle Sparkles – is a special effort on my part. The idea for the work came to me when East Fremantle Council asked about contributing a work for their George Street Festival. It has been launched out into the world as ‘East Fremantle Sparkles’. But I also considered calling it “Growing…

As a young man, I used to get angry about modern art. I think that was because I didn’t really understand it. I’d wonder, what does minimalist and monochromatic painting mean? Where does it come from and who wants it? There seemed so little in it and so little that one can say about its…

I wonder what you are struggling with right now? I wonder what you are telling yourself about your own abilities? One day I was complaining to my son Tom about my total incapacity to do renovations. I had to arrange fencing quotes and landscaping. This is stuff I have no interest in and have never…

There is a tiny child in my garden. For her, it’s a wonderland. Falling leaves, bees and snails. So many sources of delight. She has this fantastic capacity to be happy. My friend Glenn and I entertain her while her parents choose a painting in the studio. She talks to us with her stumbling new…

A single piece of information can be transformative. It might be words that inspire. It might be an affirmation. It might be some practical solution to a problem. Looking back over my life, I recognise there has been a person who has consistently spoken transformative words. He was a young art teacher called Rob Malcolm.…

Some time ago The Guardian published a list of the best shows online. I was curious so I watched an episode of each one. That’s how I came across my favourite program, The Katering Show. I think each episode is a glittering diamond of perfection. Kate McCartney and writing partner Kate McLennan originally released The…

I met my wife in the passageway of the Printmaking Department. We were in the Fine Arts Building at the West Australian Institute of Technology and it was 1982. All I can really remember is I kept looking at her and she kept looking at the floor. I noticed that we both had a foreign…

I love Fremantle. I particularly love climbing up to the Roundhouse. It’s just a little hill with a little fort and a little cannon. I used to have so much fun taking my children there when they were small. Once a day the cannon is fired off with a boom and that is really something.…

Life brings precious moments of clarity. Such a moment came to me on a visit to the British Museum with my family. I was looking in a glass case at a jewel and diamond encrusted snuff box. I had my young son with me. I looked up and saw our reflection in the glass. At…