Splash | Shallow water | Swirl

The body of work explores the natural elements of tumbling water and its movements across the black sand of Piha. With it's unique quality of iron black-sand and stormy seas there is a raw and wild landscape created. In avoiding traditions of landscape and as picturesque. I work through a history of gestural abstraction. Some colours are bright and some dark and variable, like wind and storm effects which from the freedom and energy that this vast landscape known as Piha beach has to offer.

By combining the black sand within the paintings, I attempt to bring the grit and texture of the beach into the work. The gestures and linear marks describe the various debris that get washed around in the swirl of the waves. The variation of light and shadows through shallow water is being worked through the smaller paintings.

Splash Series
Acrylic paint, sand, oil pastel, soft pastel on canvas, 505x761mm, 505x761mm

Shallow water series
Acrylic paint mixed with black sand, soft pastel, oil pastel, varnish on canvas, 222x168mm, 131x182mm, 202x250mm, 110x110mm, 173x223mm, 265x243mm, 230x174mm

Swirl
Acrylic paint, black sand, soft pastel, oil pastel, varnish on canvas, 1750x1535mm