These pieces are a selection of pieces kept from my days at school. I elected to do Art as one of my two elective choices in Second Form (Year 8 in 1973). Most of the pieces here are from art projects I did in Third Form (Year 9), at the age of 14. Hopefully, you can see that I had pretty good drawing, painting and observation skills even at that young age.

I remember I enjoyed doing Art at school (actually, I remember that I enjoyed doing all of my subjects at school, especially mathematics and science). Throughout my years in High School, I readily understood drawing things that I saw directly in front of me, and mixing colours that I saw in front of me. I had good patience with working on details. I had a good understanding of perspective. I had a keen appreciation of the paintings by the “Old Masters” like Rembrandt and Van Eyck, because they were felt by me to be well crafted “photographic-like” scenes, as one would have experienced them through a window. I didn’t really admire more modern paintings, because they seemed either too confusing, or not skilful enough (I believed that I had better skills than many of the modern artists – but I do know better now!).

When I was at school, I remember that I saw skill as a way of gaining people’s attention and respect. I guess I still believe that, but now, I am not needing other people’s attention or respect. Yes, I would like those things, but I’m not going to be subservient to the naive views of the majority of people. I now produce my artwork mainly for my own satisfaction.

28 cm (w) x 24.5 cm (h), pencil on cartridge paper.
Date produced: 1974

This was drawn in my sketch book for Art at school. I can remember that the exercise was to draw a natural object from direct observation. We were given a short opportunity to go out of the classroom, look around part of the school grounds, and bring back something suitable to draw. This is the earliest example of drawing directly from life that I have, although I know that I had drawn several things from life before this drawing. As an example, I know that just after my 11th birthday, I painted a bowl of fruit from life, using oil paints given to me from my Grandma (my Dad’s mother). I later gave that painting to my Grandma, but it disappeared after she died.

23 cm (w) x 33 cm (h), pencil on cartridge paper.
Date produced: 1974

This was drawn directly from my own right arm. I am left-handed, so I needed my left hand and arm for drawing with. Using my right arm as a model however still made it tricky to draw, because I then couldn’t use my right hand to hold my drawing. I prided myself on being able to undertake such challenges of self-discipline, and worked out a way of drawing without needing to constantly hold my drawing with my right hand. I also remember enjoying the idea of recording a resulting view of my arm from my personal perspective - now more commonly known as a ‘first-person perspective’.

16 cm (w) x 23 cm (h), wax crayon on cream paper.
Date produced: 1974

This was drawn directly from life. Our teacher, Mr Smith, posed for several life-drawings, giving us about 7-8 minutes for each.

23 cm (w) x 33 cm (h), pencil on cartridge paper.
Date produced: 1974

I did this drawing, looking into a mirror.

91 cm (w) x 60 cm (h), oil paints on board.
Date produced: May 1974

Mount Cook is in New Zealand. I had never been to New Zealand, and was living in Sydney, in New South Wales, in Australia at the time. This painting was done from a calendar photograph.

This oil painting was done in the two weeks of my May holidays, while in 3rd Form (1974). The oil paints used had been given to me by my Grandma (my father's mother). I remember painting it during long sessions held in a rumpus room, mostly on my own (I did have 3 brothers and a sister who were also on holiday), while listening to music coming from a radio.

I found it interesting working out how I could paint the various things within the image, like the clouds, mountains, trees, horse, rider, etc. I can remember getting quite frustrated with trying to paint the mountains, before realising that I could break down the image of the mountains into a series of smaller coloured shapes. This revelation was then transferred to just about all other parts of the painting as they presented themselves. The painting was started by firstly drawing in the main features. The most distant ‘things’ were painted first with closer ‘things’ painted over the previous layers - the classic “Painter’s Algorithm”. I was particularly happy with the painting of the horse and the pale tree on the very right side of the painting - the last things that I painted.

25 cm (w) x 37.5 cm (h), pencil on cartridge paper.
Date produced: 1974

This drawing was a combination of drawing some sections from observation, with a fictitious scene from my imagination, to tell a bit of a story. I used my understanding of perspective to come up with the view chosen. I used my own arms and legs as models for the various bits I needed to draw on the figures.

55 cm (w) x 45.5 cm (h), acrylic paints on canvas board.
Date produced: April 1975

This painting, like “View of Mount Cook”, was based mainly on another calendar photograph. I added a number of elements such as the little boat on the beach and the seagulls. I found it interesting working with acrylic paints instead of oil paints for this painting. When using acrylics, I found that light colours often dried noticeably darker, and dark colours often dried noticeably lighter, so some compensations had to be made when applying most colours. I hadn't found this when using oil paints. I did find acrylic paints to be easier to clean off my brushes, and acrylic paints dried a lot quicker than oil paints, making the whole process much easier to manage within shorter painting sessions.