Light and shadows coming through the bush and rocks during the climb up from Pretty Beach to the ridge line track. Various charcoals and pencils to help create that sense of pace and contrast in the line and tone. #lightandshadow #a3 #studies #landscape #landscapedrawing #draw #drawing #draweveryday #observation #treesandrocks #linework #artistsoninstagram #coastal #coastalpath #prettybeach #killcare #centralcoast #shadows #mikestaniford
Shadow Play. Along with the initial sketch. Still a work in progress but moving in the right direction. #landscape #lightandshadow #acrylicpainting #acryliconboard #depthofshadow #landscapeart #artcollectors #artbuyers #contemporaryart #interiordesign #interiordesigninspiration #workingwitharchitects #boldcolours #australianlandscspe #mikestaniford
A sense of decorative and applied art in their mixture of organized gesture and geometric form. Experimenting on location on the Hawke Head ridge. #watercolor #watercolourpainting #experimenting #landscape #landscapepainting #stylised #graphicelements #shape #form #interpretation #mikestaniford
Hardy’s Bay with Ettalong in the background. Foreground trees fracture and break up the ‘scene,’ yet add the real point of interest. Swipe for details. #hardysbay #throughthetrees #fractured #grid #trees #graphic #puzzle #obstructingtheview #ambiguity #horizon #bayside #water #acrylic #acrylicpainting #mikestaniford
Sun flushed hills. What this fabulous low winter sun brings out. A way to go but some good under painting. #workinprogress #workinprogressart #landscape #landscapepainting #australianartist #layers #lightanddark #shadows #hills #acrylicpainting #onboard #process #startingapicture #painting #paintedlandscape #structure #mikestaniford
Too many art books? Not possible surely. Had planned to start ploughing in to a large painting but spent the afternoon reading, writing and drawing what’s in front of me. I love the complexity of a busy environment. #home #hardysbay #artbooks #vases #artefacts #lounge #personalspace #sketchbook #blackandwhite #comfysofa #habitat #interior #athome #charcoalpencil #draw #drawing #drawingsketch #drawwithdebbie #drawingoftheday #mikestaniford
Memories of Lord Howe Island. 2 hours flying time due East of Sydney and you arrive at a kind of paradise. Seabird colonies, coral-rich waters and the incredible My Gower and Mt Lidgebird. #lordhoweisland #tropicalparadise #islandlife #trails #adventure #tasman #sweepingviews #sketchbook #seabirds #landscapeartist #worldheritage #unescoworldheritage #unesco #artforsale #artforsalebyartist #mikestaniford
So pleased to learn that my painting The Road to Ross River has been selected as an exhibition finalist in the Lethbridge Art Prize in June. Harbour Wall, Ortigia has also been chosen as an online finalist. Both works are in acrylic on paper and will soon be on the @lethbridgegallery site for viewing/purchase. Congratulations to all the other artists selected. #artprizes #landscapes #abstract #artshow #exhibition #mikestaniford
Late arrival at the homestead. Walking back along the only highway to the Ross River Homestead under a plethora of stars and the Milky Way just as the dark emu appears in the sky.That moment when you are both assured and fearful at the same time. And how small and insignificant you feel. ##nightime #roadtrip #nightsky #galaxy #shadows #welcomeback #arrival #mystery #rossriverhomestead #eastmcdonnellranges #northernterritoryaustralia #acrylic #onboard #darkemu #landscape #landscapepainting #mikestaniford
Armchair Travelling again and thank heavens for sketchbooks. Do we ever realize at the time just how significant those sketches are? 1 The wreck of the SS Maheno on Fraser Island. 2 The view from our apartment in Venice, narrow waterways, singing gondoliers and tv aerials! Amazing what you see when you look up. 3 The Grand Canal in Venice, one of my all time favorite cities. I liked the people traversing the bridge in the right hand corner. 4 The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank by Norman Foster, a quick scribble in black pentel but enough to capture a sense of its architectural statement. 5 The Palisade Hotel in The Rocks, Sydney. 6 The island of Lefkas in Greece...how could you not love taverna life! Six quick glimpses but for me a thousand invaluable memories. Keep looking. Keep drawing. #sketchbooks #traveljournals #yourstorymatters #yourstory #mystory #mypast #travel #travelstories #draw #draweachday #drawings #drawthisinyourstyle #artistsoninstagram #aretistslife #takethetime #drawtoday #mikestaniford
Finished. I’ve had an eye on this one all week. The background was working but the foreground needed fulfilling. I referred to my trip to the outback...it was always there gnawing away at me and sketches and studies provided the much needed elements. #australia #landscape #landscapedesign #landscapepainting #acrylic #onboard #apaintedlandscape #nature #figurative #trees #likepeople #mikestaniford
The road to Ross River. #outback #northernterritory #northernterritoryaustralia #artworkshop #rossriver #rossriverhomestead #abstraction #abstractart #abstractpainting #artist #landscape #landscapepainting #landscapes #apaintedlandscape #acrylicabstract #acrylicpainter #acrylicpainting #mikestaniford
Halfway up the track from Maitland Bay, the bush gets really interesting in its scale and colour. A quick sketchbook study in gouache and convinced this could make a larger work in acrylic. #bushland #tracks #pathways #maitlandbay #eucalypts #trees #rocky #quickstudy #gouache #gouachepainting #sketchbook #landscape #lateafternoon #lighting #landscapepainting #artist #artistininstagram #naturalenvironment #mikestaniford
Armchair Travelling and this time to Spain. Madrid and the view from our apartment in Calle Mayor. Then on to Granada, a fabulous two weeks @joya_air art residency in Andalucia before heading to Barcelona. I dream about such travel...it will come back, it must. #armchairtraveller #spain #espana #madrid #culture #diversity #beautifulpeople #sketchbooks #thejoyoftravel #theartoftravel #mikestaniford
The long descent in to Maitland Bay was well worth it. Time to get the new set of gouache paints out. Swipe to see the build. #maitlandbay #seascape #rockpools #rocks #tidal #gouache #gouachepainting #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #draw #drawing #landscape #loose #brushwork #centralcoadt #centralcoastartists #nswcoast #fieldstudies #mikestaniford
The density of bushland. Sharpie marker and watercolour. #bushland #overgrown #dense #watercolour #onlocation #bushwalking #landscape #mikestaniford
Shaping up. #workinprogress #reworked #landscape #acrylicpainting #onboard ##corrected #backontrack #mikestaniford
Just when I thought had it all worked out...Correcting and reworking frees up the thinking and takes you in a different direction altogether. I like to use its destructive potential. Be spontaneous, suspend your agenda and get rid of it. A work in progress. #landscape #landscapepainting #reworking #embrace #embracethejourney #embracechange #correcting #potential #nofear #visibleworld #sensation #amplify #space #reverie #apaintedlandscape #acrylic #onboard #mikestaniford
Dancing Shadows is now hanging in the ME Artspace in St Leonards and looking for a new home. Inspired by the light and shadows during my trip last year to N’Dhala Gorge, west of Alice Springs. Oil on canvas. 121 x167cms. DM me for more details. #ndhalagorge #outback #northernterritory #morninglight #ancientland #landscape #landscapepainting #mikestaniford
So much good material in the trees high above Hardys Bay. #bushland #trees #forestrack #peaceandquiet #abstracting #shapes #woods #forest #eucalyptus #subtropical #draw #drawing #drawingsketch #drawwithdebbie #charcoal #charcoaldrawing #familyoftrees #mikestaniford
Bush studies. #charcoal #charcoaldrawing #treescape #hardysbay #bushland #sketchbook #upright #mikestaniford
Hawke Head landscape. Mono print and collage. #abstraction #collage #monoprinting #landscape #design #designelements #artist #art #abstractart #limitedpalette #mikestaniford
Extracts from a landscape presented as fiction. Organized gesture. #colourist #picture #poem #accessories #space #reverie #decorative #appliedart #organised #gesture #landscape #mikestaniford
Looking west into the sun. Hawke Head Drive. #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #landscape #landscapepainting #apaintedlandscape #landscapeartist #abstraction #abstractart #abstractpainting #eveninglights #amplification #elements #naturalelements #nature #bushland #paintersoninstagram #painterslife #colourfieldpainting #mikestaniford
Details of my previous post and for a reason. Drawing tip: Allow yourself to make different strengths of mark in your drawings. I’ve used two types of charcoal in all of these works and it’s amazing just how many tonal emphases you can create with charcoal. Subtle shading caused by deliberate finger smudging. Soft willow charcoal will give you fine tone, hard black will give you jet black line. The variation adds to the finished effect. #charcoal #charcoaldrawing #variation #linevariation #lineandtonedrawing #boldlines #softshades #fluid #loosenup #draw #drawing #mikestaniford
Yesterday, perfect late afternoon for Killcare Beach. The sun was going down over the hills and the beach was golden orange and then masked by purple shadow. But I only had charcoal!! The tracks of 4 wheel drive life saving tractors intrigued me, breaking up the flat monotonous sand, along with the lunar landscape of footprints in drawing 1. #beaches #beachdrawings #beachlife #beachvibes #footprints #footprintsinthesand #charcoaldrawing #charcoal #sandybeach #localbeach #seascape #mikestaniford
Tidal studies and watching the light. #hardysbay #killcare #tidal #lowtide #mudflats #boatsatanchor #timepassing #charcoal #charcoaldrawing #draw #drawing #drawingsketch #drawingoftheday #drawingchallenge #landscape #bayside #bythebay #mikestaniford
The joy of colour, an entity itself. #details #landscape #apaintedlandscape #landscapepainting #nature #conversations #withtrees #trees #abstraction #abstractart #abstractpainting #abstractexpressionism #mikestaniford
I’m armchair traveling again and reflecting on how much I love Italy. Especially Umbria and especially Montecchio, the tiny hilltop town where two life time friends run a farm. I’ve spent so many happy hours there that part of my heart belongs there. Do you know what I mean? That feeling that you’re going home when you find yourself heading there once again. 1 The rooftops of Orvieto 2 The main square 3 The fabulous Duomo 4 Downtown Montecchio 5 The view from the farm, olive groves and vineyards. #italy #umbria #montecchio #loveitaly #umbrian #drawings #draw #italy #rooftops #olivetrees #hilltoptownsofitaly #mikestaniford
Large format sketchbook with art ramblings. Ideas that may or may not lead to larger works but are always fulfilling in terms of stretching my own personal perspective. #draw #drawing #drawingsketch #landscapes #seascapes #perspectives #art #artistsoninstagram #ramblings #documentinglife #personalperspective #mixedmedia #mixedmediaonpaper #immersiveexperience #sketchbooks #mikestaniford
