Exploring the expressive nature of naturalistic colours.
I created this painting in response to a work by Arthur Streeton, entitled Still Glides the Stream and Shall Forever Glide. I think the name probably comes from a poem; it's a beautiful name, beautiful like the painting.
My reproduction is quite different from the original, and that was, in fact, my intent. My aim was to change the colours to be more expressive and experimental. As you can see, my sky is yellow, my hills are pink, and my grasses multi-coloured.
However, I haven't altered much. These were, in fact, the colours in the original painting; I've not changed them, only exaggerated them. Streeton's sky really was yellow; his hills really were pink. And when you look at the real painting, it doesn't appear unnatural. It's how it is. It's just the Australian landscape.
“These were, in fact, the colours in the original painting; I've not changed them, only exaggerated them."
We live in a world of lavish beauty, where barren hills glow in sweet earthy tones, where the horizon meets an endless sky, rising up like a vast dome, and where grasses grow in innumerable subtle colours.
Surely, if we were always to paint the sky blue and the grass green, this would show not only a lack of creativity but also a startling shortcoming in observation.
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