Far from being a visual barrier, trees provide the perfect framework for a purely painterly exploration of the relationship between light and the landscape. One from the Recent Works gallery on my website. Email or DM me for further details.
Against The Light
Acrylic on canvas
85 x 108 cms
#australianlandscape #landscapeartist #againstthelight #lightonthewater #incomingtide #paintinglight #watersedge #shadowplay #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #landscapepainter #mikestaniford
If I don’t draw a place I feel I haven’t really been there.
Swipe for first charcoal marks, the last being a small thumbnail sketch in 5B pencil.
#firstmarks #sketching #drawing #charcoaldrawings ##farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestanifordobservation #fieldstudies #abstractinglsndscspe
And as the light fades, the sheep enter the picture, small dark restless shapes, settling for the night. The colours reverberate at this time of day, the absurd intensity in the sky almost obscuring the detail in the foreground. Another in my new ‘Long View’ series.
Acrylic on board and framed in Tasmanian Oak
43 x 43cms
DM me if you would like further details
#farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
I do get very involved with the horizontals, verticals, diagonals that bring a kind of music to the painting. One track takes the eye to a distant corner whilst another at 45 degrees skirts across them all. The flat landscape intrigues me with its overlapping vanishing points. Part of a new series …The Long View.
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
From my 2021 visit to Newcastle docks. I took the deliberate decision to randomly place some background colours before setting off and then only drawing in Posca pen. Quick spontaneous observations of the dockland architecture. I recommend this approach, especially when you’ve spent too much time within the four walls of the studio and feel a bit stifled.
Forego any sense of outcome and play with relationship of elements within the drawing. Is that ship really that close? Did the channel markers really occupy the foreground? A great way to sharpen hand/eye coordination.
#enpleinair #pleinair #observation #sketching #drawing #drawdrawdraw #drawdaily #newcastlensw #docklands #coalport #poscamarkers #poscapens #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
That was the week that was! Studio wall, work in progress, ideas unfolding and pushing to get more from my landscape workings. I want to confront that sense of perspective, vanishing point and distance. To make that integration between the figurative and the abstract.
Happy Friday! And big thanks to all my followers and your generous comments and support. 🙏
#theweek #studiolife #artistslife #mystudio #studiowall #landscapepainting #abstractinglandscape #abstraction #charcoaldrawings #workinprogress #landscapeartist #contemporarypainting #artcollectors #artbuyers #artgalleriessydney #artgalleriesaustralia #mikestaniford
A small corner of Umbria, now wrapped and on its way to Colorado, USA. Thank you to the collector for following and supporting me. I really enjoy knowing that my work, which comes from traveling and painting far and wide ends up in new homes across the globe.
#artcollectors #artbuyers #artsales #artistslife #artappreciation #artinthehome #artlovers #artgalleries #olivegroves #umbrialovers #landscapepainting #interiordesign #painting #landscapeartist
From the studio today, two works reaching the final touches.
#landscapepainting #contemporarylandscapepainting #contemporaryart #landscapeartist #finaltouches #acryliconcanvas #vanishingpoint #abstractingthelandscape #artcollectors #artbuyers #artgalleries #bodyofwork #studiotoday #studiolife #mikestaniford
Rocks, gullies and headlands. The Hawkehead Peninsula offers up some dramatic landscapes that tumble down into the Tasman Sea. It is a terrain that you would not venture across, pock-marked with uneven rock formations, impenetrable bush foliage and the odd brown snake. By reducing the landscape down to its barest forms, the works start to move away from the figurative process.
A work in progress and for today, enough is enough. Time to step back and take stock and see what tomorrow brings!
Swipe to see progress shots and finally my Posca pen location sketch. And of course memory plays a large part how the final interpretation plays out.
Acrylic on paper
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #abstraction #abstractedlandscape #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
Heading home. Those last moments as you leave the beach and a memorable day behind.
Softly Faded Sun
Acrylic on board
63 x 63cms
Framed in Tasmanian Oak
Now available. DM or email me for further details.
See Recent Works on my website by clicking the link in my bio.
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #fadedsun #endofday #beachlife #headinghome #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
From the streets of Hong Kong to the west country of England, from Paris to tropical North Queensland. An early sketchbook and one of a series of travel journals that bring back so many memories. Very precious moments captured in pencil and watercolour. 1997, my first trip back to the UK after emigrating to Australia in 1994. Do you keep a sketchbook?
Just one of the topics I will be discussing in this year’s workshops in Cornwall, Greece and Italy.
#Sketchbooks #memories #traveljournal #observing #drawingwhatyousee #sketching
Figuration and abstraction are never mutually exclusive and I like that point where the end result neither represents things directly, nor bows to total abstraction. I’m very interested in the suggestion of volume, spatial relationships and making what appear to be distinct forms in the leanest possible manner. I want to invite you to enter the space.
Acrylic on paper (diptych)
40 x 58cms
Swipe for details and my original charcoal drawing.
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #workonpaper #abstraction #abstractinglandscape #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
Still a work in progress but moving in a direction that I’m really enjoying. Conflicting vanishing points, a foreground that dissolves into the distance, the palimpsest of layers worn by weather and time. But it needs pushing further. Swipe for details.
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #palimpsest #vanishingpoint #opencountry #flatland #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
Great day in the studio guiding friend and artist Sue Burt @sketchingbysooz through a tutorial on working with gouache! A lot of fun trying new techniques and breaking old habits! Good results Sue!
#gouachepainting #arttutorial #artspace #meartspace #landscapepainting #studiolife #mikestaniford
“Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.” – Siobhan Vivian.
How can one single tree exhibit so many colours at the same time, individual branches refusing to let go, others racing ahead and turning with the season.
Colours Of Autumn
Acrylic on board
43 x 43cms
#australianlandscape #contemporarylandscape #landscapeartist #trees #memories #momentsintime #autumnal #autumnlight#autumntrees #turningpoint #turning #seasons #changingseason #landscapepainter #artgalleries #artbuyers #artcollectors #mikestaniford
There’s a place on the north west coast of Tasmania called Duck Bay and when the tide comes in the woodland gets reclaimed in parts, shifting the shapes and forms as the last hour of daylight seeps away.
Serenity
Acrylic on board
43 x 43cms
Framed in Tasmanian Oak
DM or email me for further details.
#tasmania #tasmanianlandscape #tasmaniancoast #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #australianlandscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #duckbay #tidalriver #tidalbay #mikestaniford
A dramatic corner of north east Tasmania, near the town of Pioneer. I love the sweeping linear patterns which contribute to the entire field of painting, at the same time adding a touch of abstraction and amplifying a sense of the space. Swipe for a few details of the work.
The burn off started during the course of the painting itself, leading the eye to the far distance.
Pioneer
Acrylic on canvas
63 x 63cms
DM or email me if you would like further information.
#tasmania #tasmanianlandscape #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #abstraction #thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #mikestaniford
I have walked this beach so many times and marvel at the patterns, forms and reflections that occur as endless waves overlap over the sand. Just let the mind drift and breathe in the spirit of the ocean.
Magic On The Water
Acrylic on board
83 x 83cms
As seen in the Recent Works on my website. Click the link in my bio and DM me if you would like more details.
#reflections #tidepools #incomingtide #beachvibes #beaches #cloudscape #fardistance #faraway #landscapepainting #landscapeartist #abeachsomewhere #stormyskies #beachcombing #mikestaniford
Long shadows and leaves that are on the turn. Sydney in the autumn. Available on my website, click the link in my bio or DM me for further information.
Shadowplay
Acrylic on board
43 x 43cms
Swipe to see my original sketch.
#urbanlandscape #shadowplay #trees #treesofinstagram #streetscene #autumnal #autumnleaves #landscapepainting #mikestaniford
Kelton Plains after the rain.
Acrylic on board
30 x 30cms
#trees #treestreestrees #treesofinstagram #treescape #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #themonaro #australianlandscapeartist #monaroplains #wetland #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
All the way to Cooma. A work in progress and who knows it could all change tomorrow. My instinct is always to re-evaluate first thing over a cup of coffee and then take each part of the composition and question its contribution to the painting as a whole. Swipe for an earlier progress pic and my original charcoal drawing.
Acrylic on canvas
105 x 105cms
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape
Two new small works on paper of the Monaro Plains, stretching the sense of space, scale and volume. It is strange how being in the landscape can make you feel small and insignificant and yet totally connected to everything around you.
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
“Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.”
My favorite time of year. The sun is lower, the shadows longer and the trees turn to orange! And then they are gone!
Autumnal Streets
Acrylic on board
43 x 43cms
Framed in Tasmanian Oak
Available now from my website. Click link in bio to see recent works.
#autumn #autumnalcolours #autumnaltrees #treestreestrees #treesofinstagram #urbanlandscape #urbanlifestyle #landscapepainting #landscapeartist #seasons #changingseasons #shadows #shadowplay
We stopped for an hour when driving back up the coast from Melbourne. Mystery Bay provided the perfect mid way break. The beach was empty, the ocean sparkling but the playful shadows beneath the trees stole the moment, the vivid green lawn competing with the dramatic purple shadows. With time running short, I felt compelled to make some quick pleinair charcoal studies for reference when back home in the studio.
This is just one of the RECENT WORKS paintings now in my revamped website. Why not take a look and DM me for any further information. Click the link in my bio.
Mystery Bay
Acrylic on board
63 x 63cms
#mysterybay #shadowplay #trees #bytheocean #coastline #landscapeartist #shadowplay #australianlandscape #australianlandscapepainter #contemporarylandscape
I am thrilled to announce that I will be back in Tasmania in 2025! Working together with partner in art and life @debbiemackinnon we will be jointly running an @artablestudios workshop exploring ways of looking at the glorious and diverse landscape of the region. From first experimental marks through to more finished studies, it will be the chance for you to find your ‘voice’ and make more confident and powerful depictions of what you see. And what better place to stay than @enclave.tasmania a characterful 100 year old hotel in the small town of Winnaleah.
I am so looking forward to being back there and working with you all, we’ll have a lot of fun!
See some sketches and studies from Debbie and me of our last visit back in April.
Book soon if you are interested. Just click the link in my bio for details.
#artablestudios #artretreat #artworkshop #lovetasmania #artiststogether #artistslife #artexploration #newskills #artcourse #mikestaniford
Somewhere on the north east coast of Tasmania.
Acrylic on board (diptych).
40 x 60cms
I have exciting workshop news about Tasmania in early 2025. I always like to let my subscribers hear about the news first as I’m very grateful to have their support. Have you subscribed? One quick link in my bio. The newsletter goes out soon so be quick if you want to get first dibs.
#tasmania #tasmanianlandscape #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #acrylicpainting #trees #treestreestrees #treesofinstagram #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
Early evening on the Monaro. The terrain seems flat and featureless until you look closely at the interventions and abstractions that occur.
Acrylic on board
43 x 43cms
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #clouds #cloudlovers #cloudsoninstagram #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #mikestaniford
Memories of the Outback. Studies from my last trip to Ross River Homestead. The light is what these sketches reinstate in my mind, the dark/light contrast of Trephina Gorge, the bold colours growing stronger by the minute as the sun goes down at Love’s Creek. I think it might be time to book my next trip.
Trephina Gorge
Love’s Creek
N’Dhala Gorge
Works on paper. DM me for further details.
#outbackaustralia #northernterritory #pleinairpainting #pleinairpainter #lightandshadow #shadowplay ##australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #rossriverresort #mikestaniford
One of five new works currently on the go in the studio.
Copper Sky (swipe for details)
Acrylic on paper
40 x 58cms unframed
60 x 78cms framed
#thelongview #farhorizon #distance #skies #skylovers #artoftheday #thelongview #australianlandscape #landscapeartist #contemporarylandscape #untamedbeauty #diverselandscape #pleinair #arts #artlovers #artcollectors #artforsale #artlife #mikestaniford
Two recent works, yet to get a showing. The early light across the harbour has a certain miraculous quality. It seems to pervade everything. An uplifting way to start the day.
Jacaranda On The Harbour
Acrylic on board
43 x 43cms
Daybreak
Acrylic on board
43 x 53cms
#trees #treestreestrees #treesofinstagram #treepaintings #lightofday #drama #landscapepainting #australianlandscapeartist #contemporaryart #uplifting #upliftinglight #contemporarylandscape #momentintime #daybreak #mikestaniford
