Memories of Spain. Sierra Maria in Andalucia and my time @joya_air art residency. Absolutely inspiring!
#artresidency #artists #mixedcreative #inspiring #stunningscenery #andalucia #sketchbook #largeformat #pleinair #acrylic #reducedpalette #landscapepainter #travellingartist #mikestaniford
I’ve passed this way before. 42 x 58cms. Acrylic on paper.
They say that only Australians understand the Australian landscape and maybe that’s true. It’s unforgiving, dangerous and relentless. But it’s also magical, diverse and hauntingly spiritual and after 26 years living as an Australian, it still takes my breath away.
I’ve been reworking this one for several days from dozens of sketches and finally feel it’s right. A sufficient nod to abstraction but look closely and you’ll see the figurative tropes - trees and distant headlands. And the essential harmonies in the color palette.
#landscape #australianlandscape #unforgiving #landscapeartist #abstract #abstraction #abstractpainting #figurativeart #tropes #australian #thisland #mikestaniford
Reductive landscape - Hawkehead Emerging from earlier this year. Literally editing down the complexity of the landscape to a composition of collective parts. Swipe for details. #reductiveart #reductive #reductiveabstraction #composition #landscape #abstraction #landscapepainting #trees #rocks #geometry #mikestaniford
Maitland Bay trail. Almost there.
#bushland #steepdecline #maitlandbay #australianlandscape #acrylicpainting #abstractpainting #landscapelover #eveninglight #treescape #contemporaryart #mikestaniford
Saturday morning in an air-conditioned studio as the outdoor temperature slowly climbs to 40c. Time to evaluate, think, get rid of some work and plan some more. How’s your week been? #studiolife #abusyweek #evaluation #workplace #workinprogress #behindthescenes #landscapepaintings #mikestaniford
Long day’s journey. That elusive light providing the impetus for the painting. Swipe for details.
#vibrancy #reflections #painterly #markmaking #effectoflight #colour #emotionalmeaning #lightpainting #fauvism #fauvist #thisland #pinkclouds #abstraction #strongcolours #fiercebrushwork #simplifiedsubject #impressionist #landscapepainting #australianlandscape #norules #abstractlandscape #artcollectors #investinginart #mikestaniford
The dark light of winter. Incredible photos of nature at its most powerfully abstract by @elliottkramer on now at the Mungo Scott building in Summerhill.
#capturingnature #photograhylovers #wildocean #nature #cloudscape #weather #creativephotography
There’s a saying that if you climb the mountains and accept their good tidings then nature’s peace will flow into you like sunshine.
Charcoal and acrylic on pasted paper on joined paper. 77 x 120cms
#bluemountains #abstractshapes #bluemountainsnationalpark #charcoaldrawing #landscape #monumental #mountainrange #workonpaper #drawing #draw #largescale #intothevalley #rockface #mikestaniford
Hawkehead Peninsula as summer emerges. Swipe for abstract dertails - bushes and trees and horizon.
#impressionism #abstractpainting #bushland #shapesandcolors #landscapepainting #acryliconpaper #mikestaniford
The Wagstaffe Trail. The charcoal drawing is always the ritual starting place and cements an understanding of the aesthetics of visual appearance. The painting has to be a response to a visual sensation followed by a decision regarding colour, which in itself determines how I’ll initially deface my surface. I don’t work from photos so I’m not after a faithful accuracy but prefer to bring my own colour to the ‘event,’ often influenced by past travels and memories. Swipe for the initial under painting.
#landscape #landscapepainting #influences #memories #colourtheory #interpretation #charcoaldrawing #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #australianlandscape #bushland #wagstaffensw #mikestaniford
Love starting the week with a new work. The Maitland Bay track throws up some great opportunities and challenges, one of them being the climb back up. I painted the gouache study earlier this year during lockdown and earmarked it for further development. It’s all about trees and the bushland clinging confidently to the side of rock formations that feature all the way down to the ocean. Swipe for progress on day 1 and some details.
#tracks #maitlandbay #gouachestudy #gouache #gouachepainting #acrylicpainting #landscapepainting #landscapeart #austalianlandscape #contemporaryartist #bushland #bushlandtrack #mikestaniford
Rain over the NSW Central Tablelands. A very quick sketch from memory and earlier field studies. Seeking that juxtaposition of sun catching the middle distance as the storm dumps heavily on the hills beyond. Trick is not to over work it. #watercolour #fabrianopaper #weather #storms #rainfall #tablelands #mudgeeregion #mudgeensw #quicksketch #loveweather #dramaticsky #watercolourpainting #watercolourart #watercolourcollectors #watercoloursociety ##mikestaniford
Thrilled with our latest acquisition. A butterfly chair from @foldvintage. First designed in 1938 by three Argentinian architects and quickly acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in NY. Chairs are an absolute passion of mine and this is a stunner. #chairs #designicons #modernist #butterflychair #furniture #vintage #design
Twilight on Cowan Creek now hanging in the @moochinside gallery at Killcare. Acrylic on board. 103 x 123cms and in a Tasmanian Oak shadow box frame.
#moochinside #galleries #artbuyers #homeinteriors #homestyle #killcarelandscape #christmasiscoming #goodliving #artinthehome #mikestaniford
At first a sense of abstraction before looking at the intimate details and everything becomes apparent.
#landscape #landscapeart #contructed #abstraction #reality #details #visualunderstanding #shapes #charcoaldrawing #markmaking #space #reality #representation #draw #drawing #describe #mikestaniford
Storm’s passed. Erunderee, NSW. Swipe to image 3 for the complete artwork but even tighter crops and more simplistic structure works better hence the first two. Thoughts?
#landscapepainting #pleinair #weather #passingstorm #minimal #brushstrokes #sky #twilight #actionpainting #abstraction #mikestaniford
Two works now finalized after several months in the studio. The quick sketches represent a thought process that I often need to go through to resolve some of the construct/compositional issues...and make quite interesting works in their own right. To do what’s required in terms of colour, structure, technique and degrees of reality.
#landscape #landscapepainting #australianlandscape #contemporarypainting #modernart #abstraction #horizons #beforeme #thisland #longjourney #theroadahead #artgalleries #artcollectors #artbuyers #artlovers #mikestaniford
Wendy Whiteley’s garden overlooking Sydney Harbour. So much diversity in the tree and plant life, it forces me to use different weights of pencil and charcoal.
#charcoal #charcoaldrawings #rangeofblacks #differentlineweights #gardens #foliage #landscapesketching #mikestaniford
Back in Sydney snd looking at my series of gouache works from the road trip to Orange and Mudgee and s as ready I’m seeing the importance and value of recording what you see. Impressions eh?
#landscapesketches #landscapepainting #visualrecord #roadtrip #midwestnsw #gouachepainting #fieldstudies #worksonpaper #mikestaniford
How reductive can you be? Number 4 too complicated? Thoughts?
#landscspepainting #reductive #gouache #mudgeensw #roadtrip #cabinstudio #mikestaniford
On a hill high above Mudgee watching everything the weather can throw at us, brilliant sunshine followed by mist and rain with lightning bringing the darkest skies, when one big pillow of a cloud floats across the landscape...swipe for the charcoal sketch. And the very cool cabin.
#mudgeeregion #regionalnsw #landscapepainting #gouache #travellingartist #roadtrip #incredibleweather #bigskies #mikestaniford
I always have an A5 sketchbook handy along with a couple of pens. Usually a Sharpie, brush pen and something with a fine non. Speed drawing no matter how brief sets up a great sense of memory and leads to much better development of the work. See how minimal you can make your kit.
#fieldstudies #sketches #pleinair #observation #speeddrawing #catchingthemoment #workfast #mikestaniford
Farewell to Orange and the Mayfield Winery and off to Mudgee. Spectacular weather, delicious wines and glorious scenery...plus a large mob of kangaroos in between the vines...and not a sound at night! Quick gouache painting from a notebook scribble.
#orangensw #inthevineyards #roadtrip #gouachepainting #stormcoming #perspective #angles #furrows #mikestaniford
And then the geese came moseying around...#lifeinthevineyards #vineyards #orangensw #roadtrip #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #visualjournal #penandink #travellingartist #mikestaniford
In the vineyards of Orange and some quick gouache works of the stunning scenery at Mayfield Vineyard.
#roadtrip #outofsydney #orangensw #regionalnsw #regionalartsnsw #wineries #landscapepainting #worksonpaper #gouachepainting #pleinair #vineyards #mikestaniford
Big skies. Off on our road trip tomorrow, Sydney to Orange to Mudgee (both known for great food and wine) and home again. Always looking for new rhythms in the terrain and skies and the patterns in the landscape. #landscape #landscapepainter #charcoal drawing #draw #drawing #fieldstudies #roadtrip #orangensw #mudgeensw #gouchepainting #newhorizons #newlandscape #outoftown #mkestaniford
A great morning high up on the Hawkehead Peninsula against a strong south-easterly, hence the bulldog clips. Caught sight of one sea eagle, massive wingspan! Nothing bested all this visual information gathering. #fieldstudies #charcoal #charcoaldrawing #topspot #ocean #tasmansea #seeformiles #referencesketches #blackandwhite #worksonpaper #outintheelements #pleinairpainting #backtothesource #mikestaniford
Track to Hawkehead 🔴 SOLD and off to a new home. Congratulations and many thanks to the buyer and the wonderful team @moochinside for making it happen. #artworksold #hawkehead #artgalleries #artbuters #artcollectors #tracks #bushwalking #landscapepainting #gratitude #mikestaniford
The ocean stirs the heart. I do love the ocean and trying to catch its ever shifting movement. All from the south end of Killcare Beach where the ocean becomes a fabulous sea pool. A3 gouache works, unframed, acrylic on paper.
#oceanlife #movement #tidalpool #waves #seapool #art #uplifting #marineart #oceanpainting #worksonpaper #mikestaniford
