'Nature Boy'

'Nature Boy'
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt©

We've had some wild and varied weather of late.
From lashings of hail, and inky-violet stormy skies,
to stunning autumn days like today.

stormy skies ...violets and lime greens...perfect!

from Brighton looking towards Melbourne

blues and ochres...from Sorrento pier

Sorrento jetty and dinghies

And from 2010, one of the earliest paintings
in my series 'The Child Within' .... you can read
how this Series of my nipper paintings and
beach-kids started ....right here.  and here

'Nature Boy'
Jo-Ann Hunt
 'The Child Within' Series
H122x41cm
H48x16ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
sold

 And I'm still enjoying painting them!
Having a ball!  a painting-ball !
Who would guess!

                   Jo   :)

.

lost amongst the letterboxes.....

36degrees today, and it's only the second day of summer!

this is way too hot for my studio, but it means I can catch up with this blog.

anyone who knows me knows that I can get lost 2km from home.

during my recent trip to Queensland,  I left Agnes Water, some 2 hours south

of Gladstone,  to head back to Gladdie to meet up with my son. the plan

was for lunch and a swim at Tannum Sands, then a short drive

to Gladstone in time to pick him up at the Curtis Island ferry .

I left Agnes Water and couldn't believe the ingenuity and variety

of the letterboxes along the way.

I spent 2 hours happily hurtling along the highway, stopping and u-turning

to snap all these wonders of creativity and design.

it was only when the road became decidedly more like a bush track

than a national highway  that I realised I had turned left, not right,

was heading south not north, and the road signs were giving mileage

to Brisbane, not Rockhampton, and I was on my way back to Melbourne!

so I had to abandon my photo-stops....and my hopes for a leisurely lunch

and swim...and flat-foot it in the opposite direction!

my favourite....it loomed out of the bush like something from 'The Jetsons'...
.but simple, no pretensions, and who cares if it's on an angle!

(all photos taken 31 Aug 2013, somewhere below Agnes Water , Qld!)

serendipitously, his ferry-crossing struck major delays, and it all ended happily. 

but I'd love to get more letterbox photos....I feel a new series brewing!

                               Jo  x

 ps: my 'pier-people' are coming along nicely.....   :)

work in progress
Jo-Ann Hunt©

Artist Statement... 'The Child Within' Series

 

'painting the essence of childhood'

I want to capture the essence of the ‘Wonder –Years’ …. those energetic, optimistic, invincible,  fearless years......

the gangly, awkward, all arms-and-elbows years.

I want these paintings to be of today’s children, but to stir memories of our own childhood… that lovely limbo-land between innocence and awakening to the realities of the world…a snapshot of childhood caught between innocence and independence.

This Series is painted with one foot in the present, and one in the past!

I believe art should enrich our lives, enhance our wellbeing, our homes, and our visual awareness.

In the past few years my work has moved away from traditional realism, to a more personal, stylized interpretative art.

People often tell me that my paintings “make them feel good”. I think that is because I can only paint that which makes me feel good, that which gives me pleasure......to be painting is to be in my 'happy place' 

And I think it is this shared response to a happy memory that connects.

I want people to enjoy living with my art.

I believe art should be felt, as well as viewed!

.

painting a 'Series'....

My mind is never 'Closed for Business.'

why?

because I paint many different subjects and themes.....whatever takes my fancy!

I am constantly drawn to new topics and ideas, and instead of fighting 
or feeling awkward about this, I trust my creative 'gut', pick up the brush and start painting before this latest creative muse abandons me.

many modern artists often pursue only one idea for most of their life....

and many galleries expect their artists to do this because it gives them an 'identity' ....

translate 'makes them easier to pigeon-hole / promote / sell......

you want a painting of a dugong ....she is a 'dugong-painter'.....

you prefer purple trees?....he's a 'purple-tree' painter.....

you get the picture! ( pun intended!)

well sorry, that's not for me!

I want to do it all!

even at university I took the course with the most diversity, the most sweeping, comprehensive topics,
the broadest range of artistic subjects...that of an "Art -Teaching' degree.

now I've learnt to manage my explorations and creative curiosity by working in 'Series'.

I follow a theme through until I feel I've exhausted all my interpretations and ideas.

but usually long before I've finished all the paintings I've started, I'm off in another direction, with sketches and ideas piling up in notepads, sketchbooks,  the backs of envelopes, all over my studio desk and kitchen bench.

when this happens I'm at my happiest!  bits of paper and scribblings...all that chaos....all that inspiration just waiting to be to launched onto canvas.

but there is one series that has been a constant since February 2005.....

my "Travels with my Paintbrush' Series.








this is my first "Hilltop Village Painting'.....

The Green Shutters
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H135x135cm
H53x53ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2005
sold

and this is one of my latest....






His Cousin's Village
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H122x122cm
H48x48cm
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
sold






....a lot changes in five years.


.....wonder what changes will be wrought in the next five!








                                             Jo x














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No Swimming

my backyard

 Whoa! ......was it cold today!

             a ' cold snap' with brief hailstorm has left our street  looking

                     like it's been snowing!

I am working on a new 'Series'....it's  'beach' themed....

think summer....

surf....

salt-spray in the air....

swimming....



yesterday
New Haven Marina
Phillip Island
Victoria



hmmm....


but  it's a little tricky to keep my headspace in the sunshine ....


with warm yellows and cerulean blues ....


when outside it is all grey and silver!

No Swimming!

....Jo  x

Ancient Villages



'Village Ancien'
detail'
Jo-Ann Hunt







Hilltop villages delight me.


I love the way they improbably cling to the most impossible of cliff faces,
and the higgledy-piggledy, almost playful nature of their construction.




since 2005 I've painted these medieval towns....with one foot based in reality, and one foot in my imagination.



I love to imagine the lives of the people that live in these homes.... a birdcage on a balcony....put outside to sing in the sunshine....soccer socks and shorts  on the line to dry....



it's a fascination that continues to intrigue me, and this 'Series'.... 'Travels with my Paintbrush' ....
is one that I return to every year.



for me , there's always one more village, one more balcony.....



always more 'Travelling with my Paintbrush' to do !


Jo x






'Village Ancien'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Seies
H132x132cm
H52x52ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2007
sold



Artist Statement...'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series

I want to capture the optimism, the romanticism, the tenacity inherent in the old buildings and medieval towns of Europe.

These paintings are a combination of my imagination and evocative memories from my travels to places such as Amalfi, Positano, San Gimignano, the Cinque Terra and the hilltowns and villages found on the back roads of Italy, Germany, England and France.

I love the way these hilltop villages improbably cling to the most impossible of cliff faces, and the higgledy-piggledy, almost playful nature of their construction.

When I start a painting I quite lose myself in imagining the lives of the people who built these homes, and their descendants who live in them today.

I think of it as painting from inside my head and my heart, with one foot in reality, and one in my imagination. It is this essence of a place, its lifeforce which finds its way onto the canvas.  

At the same time I want to compose an image that means something to the viewer- that brings a smile, and perhaps triggers a memory that leads to them creating their own story, to their experiences of life giving an entirely new dimension to my painting.  

And that’s Ok - it means my work has life, it has humanity, it has possibility!

I believe art should enrich our lives, enhance our wellbeing, our homes, and our visual awareness.

In the past few years my work has moved away from traditional realism,

to a more personal, stylized interpretative art.

People often tell me that my paintings 'make them feel good'. I think that is because I can only paint that which makes me feel good, that which gives me pleasure......to be painting is to be in my 'happy place.'

And I think it is this shared response to a happy memory that connects.

I want people to enjoy living with my art.

 I believe art should be felt, as well as viewed!

.

A Progression

hmmm ....that was easy......I did it......I've 'imbedded' videos......go me!!...that will come in handy when I get a new camera!

note to Blogger and the 'help community'.....you guys rock!

Bassano del Grappa

now to get back to this post.....





I paint in 'Series'.... different themes, different ideas....
I follow them through until I need to stop/ change direction/something else draws me away.





I figure if it was OK for Picasso to have his different periods......his Blue Period, Rose Period, Cubism and more.....
and for Brett Whiteley.....
you can't argue with perfection....
then it is OK for me.






some series are a closed book.....finished....won't return to that one....
for example.....my  'Music of the Mind' Series.....








'Song of Venice.... The Grand Canal'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Music of the Mind' Series
H12x138cm
H44x54ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2005
sold







some series have a series within themselves....like a mother ship with smaller versions of itself berthed ( birthed?) to its perimeters.... eg: 'The Child Within ' Series...
'the Child Within...John and Betty '
'the Child Within.... Myths and Legends'

'The Red Pedal Car'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within....John And Betty ' Series
H125x125cm
H49x49ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2003
sold




 

'The Sisters'
Jo-Ann Hunt
Commission Portrait
'The Child Within' Series
H122x107cm
H48x42ins
Acrylic on Canvas
 2005
sold



'Soul Mates'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within...Myths and Legends ' Series
H140x140cm
H55x55ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
xxxx

....they  change over the years....they evolve....
and you should see what theme in this series I'm working on now!
......(but not today!)




and then there is the series that I always seem to have time for....
there's always more to say....
more to paint....

that series is 'Travels with my Paintbrush'....

'The Farmhouse beyond the Vines'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H93x78cm
H36x30ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2005
sold



'The Olive Pickers'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H112x138cm
H44x54ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2005
sold









'Paradise Found'
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Travels with my Paintbrush' Series
H132x132cm
H52x52ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2007
sold




series..... a sequence, string, progression....
my way of working....
why deny yourself all that fun when you can paint it all!
....just one series after another...
there's always another!

Jo x