Pickett’s Turn
Oil on Canvas
14inches W x 27inches H
2019
Artwork for the Tigers’ Almanac 2019 book cover. Click on the link to order your copy now. Books will be available after the 13th December 2019.
And, if you would like an archival reproduction print of the artwork above please visit my shop for details here on this site. Or you can contact me here
And here are some of of the studies done after game day…
Mundy Morning
Acrylic on Paper
2017
This Footy Life Studio Exhibition Is a collection of recent football themed paintings, sketches and illustrations from the last couple of years.
It is collection of works that show my own exploration of technique and style through experimentation. I have been specific in the way that I have worked over the last year or so in particular, to explore the possibilities of using memory and imagination as a way to create content for paintings.
This has meant that I have veered away from using reference materials such as photographs. I wanted to see what my mind could come up with during this period.
And so I took my curiosity to paper and in following the 2017 season to its most glorious finality, I came up with a series of paintings that documented my own footy trip for the year. I had no idea where this intention would lead, or what I would come up with.
It became a footy journal or diary of sorts, that I subsequently titled 'Tea for the Boys'.
Why 'Tea for the Boys'?
It began with a sketch that I did of my youngest, Hugo, and a couple of his under 12 footy team mates whom he would bring home from school on training nights for afternoon tea before heading off for training. It has been a well established routine at our place for many years.
Pie Boy
This became the impetus for creating these twisted domestic spaces that are inhabited by various footy players. I played with variations of who came to tea as each week of the footy season progressed and as the various seasonal dramas unfolded.
One of the things that did come up through this process was the use of language. Language at home, in the media, newspapers, text and online spaces such as twitter and instagram.
The exhibition shows and number of earlier works that are more traditional in their style and I have on display some of my sketchbooks that I use regularly and which are used to document visual moments.
For this weeks hours please visit here
or by appointment.
Afternoon tea for the boys; with crows hovering about
unique prints/10
Sometimes life creeps up and before you know it weeks have gone by and you find you have been busy doing 'other things'. I haven't been able to paint for a number of weeks, a medical hiatus...apart from some smaller stuff on paper at the kitchen table. My second youngest is also doing V.C.E.....
....What's for dinner? the texts have been coming in thick and fast all year.
Anyway, that part is nearly over! four down, one to go, albeit in six years time.
And then there was the footy.....well, that has added to my painting hiatus too, and taken me to another place and consumed all manner of time and emotional energy. Eleven games was my tally this year, a record for me since having kids divests one of precious leisure time.
That which is hard to believe is the fact that every game I went to was a winning one.
Over the years I have often sketched at the footy. This year I just couldn't. So much momentum and pace that built as the season wore on.
It was such an incredible year of footy for the Tigers. After the end of last season, there was not an inkling of possibility that the Tigers would and or could get up and win the grandfinal.
And so a different series of work has been elicited this year. Instead of looking at the motion of the game, the crowd and all the visual facts before me, I decided to instead work from memory, feeling, imagination. I decided to take bits from my own domestic scenery and build into these spaces something from each round of the season.
I’ve been able to continue flattening my colours and bringing in a stronger design element at times. My penchant for black sits comfortably in this style of work. Black can so easily deaden colours surrounding it if you aren't careful. I have also been able to take many of the footy euphemisms too, and play with these words in a visual and personal manner.
These paintings are still evolving. Many have been done at home, not the studio, in between house work and cooking meals. Most are acrylic on paper A3 in size and I want to expand on a couple and develop a few more into works on canvas. Whilst the method is quite different to that of my larger Melbourne Paintings, it is one that I am really enjoying as I am constantly thinking as to how best resolve both pictorial and narrative dramas.
Anzacs
I am also wondering if the distortion of style is, perhaps, more than apt. Footy, the ever present distraction from the daily grind of everydayness and these twisted little pictorials, also become distractions from that which is usual for me. Footy, especially Aussie Rules, allows one to escape with raucous abandon and channel unused energies within.
Over the years I have loved many an artist from the pasts' work. But one constant would be the work of German painter, Max Beckmann. His use of vibrant colour and black are always enchanting and appeal to my mind. His paintings are just so expressive. I saw quite a few last year at the MET in New York.
And recently, I came across the work of Jacob Lawrence, an African-American painter. His scenes of daily life in the Harlem district of New York in the early 20th Century are intriguing too for the way he flattens perspective but maintains a vivd and colourful narrative. His pieces are smaller and quite domestic in size. He first came to be known for a series of paintings he did that focused on the mass migration of African Americans from the south to the urban areas of Northern USA.
In the meantime, I'll admire the works of these other artists, but try to bring together these various elements into a singular working style.
This series, that I have dubbed Afternoon Tea for the Boys, is partially up on Instagram at @thisfootylife....search it.
Right now, my own boys have arrived home and Nicola too, from her Vis Com exam, and I have just caught the Anzacs in the oven, before burning them, yet again.
If you visit my shop katebirrelshop.bigcartel.com you will also find some prints recently added along with some greeting cards. These smaller items help to achieve some income to cover my painting costs. I am still building it up.
125g Butter
2 tablespoons of honey
1 cup of Rolled Oats (traditional, not the fast cook porridge ones)
1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of white sugar
3/4 cup of coconut
2 tablespoons of boiling water
1 teaspoon of Bicarb
Melt butter and honey together over the saucepan. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl except the bicarb.
Add bicarb to the 2 tablespoons of boiling water and stir. Then stir into the melted honey/butter mix...it should bubble and fizz a bit.
Then mix this butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
Then take out approximately 1 dessertspoonful each and plonk onto a biscuit tray that is covered with baking paper.
Pop the tray into the oven at approximately 150 degrees for about 10 minutes or until just lightly browned.
Warning....they cook very quickly and burn if you are distracted by your phone, iPad, desktop or other things.
I drew my first footballer way back in my teen years.
It was of one of my younger brothers playing a game on his own in the backyard.
Our back yard was a few blocks from Windy Hill. My brother commentated as he kicked, and he roared as though there was a crowd of 99,000. Of, course there was not. Not even at Windy Hill, was there ever a crowd of 99,000.
There was only me, with pen and paper in hand. I was keen to see if I could draw a moving figure. And so I tried.
Since then I have explored footy as a subject through my art and through my painting.
These paintings form part of a collection of work that I have done since the start of the 2016 finals. It is the first time I have used a grand final as a theme to inspire my work. The Doggies win against the Swans was an uplifting experience for all; not just mad keen footy fans, but for those too, who claim proudly to 'know nothing about footy'.
From the depths of despair at having such a long span between the glory of only one ever premiership cup, the anticipation of having reached finals and the unlikely chance of charging up through the final series to make it to the big day, was...well, such an unlikely story.
Being a tiger fan, I was able to take it in, unencumbered, from the periphery, going into to the city on the night of the Hawthorn final to sketch the grandiose stream of people walking to the G, anticipating all the possibilities of the Sydney/GWS trek, absorbing the atmosphere of the red, blue and white Scray landscape in the days before the granny, to the finality and joy of the big day.
These paintings focus on the footy family, any family, any nationality, any age, any gender, the concern and the weight of possibilities as they charge forth to the final game of the season.
My families are portrayed at the station, waiting and wondering and hoping the win will be theirs only.
And with this long awaited premiership victory, there came the drenching sense of joy. To me the intensity of those feelings is perhaps, at a contained peak upon the drive home for those who attend any such sporting game and for those supporters in the days, weeks…...and sometimes months, afterwards.
The statement made by hanging ones' team scarf out the car window, is the one simple gesture that epitomises a sporting celebration and for the Western Bulldog fans, the grand celebration that was the 2016 season.
Dog Mad,
Limited edition prints 2016
Image size A4 plus white border
$125 each.
I have been working on canvas paper these last few weeks. My youngest was home sick with a tummy bug for over a week, which meant I was stuck at home. This left me working smaller again and working with acrylics.
I wanted to work from the memories and feelings I had of the Doggies win, I think because it was such an all encompassing experience for Melbournians. The whole experience was uplifting and left us all feeling a bit Dog Mad.
Image 1. Circle of Joy, inspired by that moment right on the siren
Image 2. The Running, Jumping, Leaping, Flying Game, inspired by our prime ministers description of Aussie Rules footy last year.
Image 3. The Big men Fly, inspired by Pickens mark
The prints are a signed limited edition of 25 per image, using pigment ink on Museo Max Archival paper.
$125 each
Contact here
Well, I am a bulldogs fan only in so far as I have jumped on the proverbial bandwagon. I suppose it is a bit of relief when your own team bombs out way before there is even a slight chance of making it.
One gets the chance to regroup and take on whoever it is that might seem like a good proposition.
I was curious to see how the Bye week would play out; would interest wane amongst the fans; would the players be affected. In Melbourne there was plenty of speculation in the lead up to the footy free weekend. A lot of it was negative...and, at a gut level, yes I would agree "A bye before the finals, how could you?'
I didn't go to any of the finals games. The closest I got was to the city and the area around Birrarung Marr on the Friday night that the Bulldogs played the Hawks in the semi final on the 16th of September.
The atmosphere in Melbourne on that night was amazing. With so many going to the game, and taking the long walk from Flinders Street Station there was a never ending stream of fans strutting the promenade.
A constant sea of red, white and blue mingled with a bit of brown and gold. The Scrays were perky, ambitious and on the cusp of daring to dream.
It was a balmy night and I found a spot down just beyond Federation square where I did a couple of ink and watercolour drawings on paper.
The distance in being a bit further away was ideal. The actual stadium fell further into darkening background. It was replaced with a cityscape of lamp poles, the lit spire of the arts centre and a variety of of buildings from the Eureka tower on the south bank to the old Herald Sun on the North side of the Yarra.
From these sketches, I was able to work up some more work. Acrylic on canvas paper as the one to the right shows.
The atmosphere in melbourne during grand final week was intoxicating. I always like the anticipation that leads up to the final game, but this year was taken to another level with the Western Bulldogs having reached this grand occaision.
I was met with many fans saying that even if they don't win that the fact they were in a grand final is ok. Such a momentous time for a team with only one premiership cup in the trophy cabinet.
One Trophy
September 2016
There are more works in this series, in fact I'm still work ing on some now...four weeks later. I'll post some more when I feel I might be finished with the theme.
ink and watercolour on paper
sketched as I watched and listened radio and TV
sold
Self portrait in the ladies lounge
Oil on Canvas
2016
$525
Ok, it's on again The Annual Footy Art Show at the Artists Garden, Fitzroy Nursery, 390 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, although on a smaller scale than in previous years.
This years theme is 'Women in Football'.
For the last year or so I have been experimenting somewhat. I am always attracted to the graphic quality of an image for its simplicity. The problem for me is that it can take away the painterliness of a painting if I let it become too graphic and too stylised. And at the same time, I am also drawn to the loose lines that seem to come in a freer way when I draw.
Hypocrite? Maybe.
My goal is to somehow bring the two together, comfortably.
With this painting, I feel as though I have had some success at marrying the two.
To see the whole painting and make your own judgement call down and visit the nursery during this 2016 finals season.
I've put up some images of this painting of the stand at Punt Road. And some of the quick sketches I did at the ground. The Tigers were training (well....they appeared to be) on this particular day so I could only get a distant view from Punt Rd.
Walking around the ground I discovered the museum was open. As it turned out, I had a fabulous tour with the curator, Roland, I think his name was, who undoubtedly is an expert in all things Yellow and Black. His own personal collections, many of which are in the museum, have been accumulated over his lifetime. Team photos, footy trinkets from cereal packets, swap cards and the rest, are just some of the items he has bought at Camberwell market or had donated to him.
Punt Road Oval is beautifully located with a backdrop of gum trees and open space in the area behind the stand. The stand has a curved footprint and the upper deck really embraces the shape of the oval.
At the Punt Road end of the stand, The Jack Dyer Stand, an old sign remains intact. It reads clearly Vickers Gin over a space that must have been the bar. With crowds that on occasions exceeded 40,000 people in the 1940's, one can only imagine what this area would have been like for a spectator.
In fact, it is probably difficult to imagine in these relatively affluent times. Without modern sanitation and facilities to accomodate so many, these spaces must surely have had an atmosphere, all of their own.
For the painting I had a look at some old photos. At some stage there was clearly a traditionally white picket fence, possibly up until the 1950's. The painting is not of one year in particular, rather a reimagining of the ground as it has been.
I came across a player I hadn't heard of Billy Barrot, prominent it seems in the mid to late 1960's. He was a dual premiership player and the 1965 Best and Fairest player of the year.
He was also known as Bustling Billy for the way he could work through the pack on the field. The genesis of players names is an interesting quirk in the establishment of personalities in the game of Australian Rules football.
I scouted through some old You Tube footage of him playing at the MCG. Even though I have no living memory of Billy, something about it all sounded familiar, in both sound and vision, that I wonder if it was the backing lullaby of my infancy.
The Jack Dyer stand is magnificent in its restored glory, particularly in its' yellow and black trimmings on the fretwork. Looking at bits of missed paint work and the old pictures I came across it seems the fretwork in the 1960's would have been a more traditional Brunswick or bottle Green and Cream combination.
I plan to go back to Punt Road on a day that I can hopefully access the ground and have another look around.
The finished work is Oil on canvas, 76cmW x 61cmH and is available $725
Verdun at the Junction
oil on canvas
76cmW x 61cmH
sold
A couple of new pieces done over this season, not yet over.
I'm curious and intrigued by the old footy ground, no longer in use for AFL games. There is something about a disused stand that echoes with the faint whispers from eras and lives gone by.
Together with the people, the players, the crowd and the geography of its suburban back lay, something within this mix is, I find, compelling.
Exhibition of Footy Art in Mildura opens end of August
