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All  Artworks

Displayed here are artworks fresh from the studio and going back many years. As a new work is completed, it's added (see new work via the filter: New Artworks).

These original oil paintings depict islands in the Pacific Ocean as well as surround seas in a whimsical surreal environment that allows the viewer entry into an alternative narrative of our lived experience.

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The title: Out Damned Spot is drawn from the guilty words uttered by Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth while trying to remove guilty blood from her hands. As a New Zealand European, I am a hybrid of the lands of my ancestors and the country I was born into. Their reasons for being in this geographical location decided long before, yet today all introduced animals and native alike, must via for the same limited space alongside man’s ongoing ambitions; playgrounds, factories, leisure activities, roading, housing and all of the other scattered debris of modern living ~ and all are intertwined in a melee of contorted limbs and angles, each relying upon the other for survival. The composition is circular although the painting is stretched onto a square frame which means that it can be hung from any side - there is no 'up' or 'down' in the work. The content is a spot or blemish, contrasted against the crisp whiteness of the background. The entwined flora and fauna depicted revolve around the central figure of the recently acclimatised White Faced Heron. All share a kindred history of human intervention through land development, consumerism and/or importation. Read more and view closeup images of this painting in Works in a Series.

Out Damned Spot

99 x 99 cm, oil on canvas, 2020, sold

This work was created for a group show regarding Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey.. It is no surprise that a society that prizes beauty above all else is a society founded on a love of surfaces. Wilde creates a moral tale out of this supposition. As Dorian manifests this theory he experiences the freedom to abandon his morals and to live from one indulgent experience to the next with the help of his yellow book. Polite society hear of his scandals but never really question his name and reputation and Dorian is never ostracized. On the contrary, despite his immoral life, he remains at the heart of the London social scene because of the 'innocence' and 'purity of his face'? This is utmost a story about physical beauty and how it conceals rather than illuminates the soul within. Beauty is the wrapping that holds the gift - Beauty is not the gift

Package (the)

Exhibited: The Picture of Dorian Grey, 150 x 75cm, oil on canvas, 2005, sold

Away from all the fuss and frantic rush of modern life there is, upon the crest of a small island, a Kiwi bach, complete with everything you need and nothing you don't. A tiny home in sea blue built on tall poles to ensure exclusivity. A sanctuary to relax and unwind far from the city and its frantic pace, but also hidden there is the germ of possible future strife; Audrey II

Perch

Exhibited: Island Nation, 101 x 101 cm, oil on canvas, 2020, sold

Finding that perfect spot on a summer day and sharing it with everyone else

Perfect Spot (the)

90 x 90 cm, oil on board, 2024

The end section of a triptych from the early exhibition titled: Hunters and Consumers. The paintings together form a procession following a man carrying on his back a trophy of a wild boar out of the bush. The other paintings are titled: Trophy Hunter, The Guide and Pighunter(this). They are all reunited in a reproduction titled: The Hunt.

Pighunter

Exhibited: Hunters & Consumers, 91 x 91 cm, oil on linen, 2007, sold

Penguin Random House Australia approached me with a request to use 3 of my paintings for the second editions of Tim Winton’s non fiction autobiographical titles, The Boy Behind the Curtain, Island Home (this) and Land’s Edge.

Pipi Picker

Exhibited: Interior Landscape, 91 x 91 cm, oil on linen, 2006, sold

An intimate look at a perfectly ordinary red shed sitting in a field... it is the first 'portrait' painting where I was attempting to abandon capturing a likeness and instead focused upon character to describe the subject. The outside surface can be seen but the interior is always hidden.

Portrait of a Shed

Exhibited: Calloused Veneer, 87 x 87 cm, oil on board, 2004, sold

The Takahe, Kokako, Saddleback, Archey's frog and the Forest ringlet butterfly all live in the forest, they stand upon a fencepost which, due to farming and the development of the land, is encroaching upon their habitat. Note the now extinct “Huia bird” skull hanging from the post

Post

Exhibition: For the Birds, 60 x 89cm, oil on board, 2019, sold

As a parent we raise our offspring and send them out into the world - here the rough and tumble of life is represented by the crashing of the waves of the ocean - a young girl contemplates working up the courage needed to brave the ocean

Plunge (the) (girl)

76 x 76 cm, oil on canvas, 2015, sold

As a parent we raise our offspring and send them out into the world - here the rough and tumble of life is represented by the crashing of the waves of the ocean - a young boy contemplates working up the courage needed to brave the ocean

Plunge (the) (boy)

76 x 76 cm, oil on canvas, 2015, sold

Part of my exploration into my masculine identity is to illustrate the constructed barriers of my self-protection. This self-portrait both invites and repels; the door is open but it is I that decides who may pass.

Private Property

Exhibited: Oilskin Armour, 91 x 91 cm, Oil on Panel on board, 2007, sold

Two figures share a secret while a herd of Hereford cows wait to hear the outcome of their words... one of the figures holds a gun, so it seems that the dialogue they share might be life or death.

Quiet Word

122 x 30 cm, oil on canvas, 2007, sold

Playing with the abstract works of Gordon Walters but with a distinct rural flavour. The title for this artwork was supplied by an old friend, after creating the work I couldn't decide what it was about.. his quip for a title spurred me on to many other works of a similar culinary theme.

Rack of Lamb

Exhibited: Calloused Veneer, 80 x 55 cm, oil on board, 2003, sold

A woman soaking up the warm sun in a secluded spot and escaping into a good book - one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Reader (the)

Exhibited: Oil & Water, 60 x 60 cm, oil on board, 2016, sold

Based upon the photograph: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima from WW2. This painting was exhibited for the NorthArt Paper show, it forms part of my Battelines series and depicts pest animals staking their claim to the land with a sprig of the invasive gorse branch.

Raising the Flag

Exhibited: Paper, 50 x 70 cm, oil and acrylic on watercolour paper, 2017, sold

Very early painting, only record of it is this photograph.

Red Bucket (the)

Size: ? oil on board, 1996?

A Maori kete (basket) is reflected in the sand holding a harvest of pipi’s (shellfish) with more spilling from its depths. A few pipi’s have their ‘feet’ out attempting to escape back into the depths of the sand. View ‘Ebb Tide' and ‘Pipi Picker’ for a similar theme

Reprieve

Exhibited: Interior Landscape, 88 x 88 cm, oil on canvas, 2005, sold

We all need somewhere to escape to, whether that's a good book, film, hobby or an island retreat. Here lies a villa, away from all the fuss and complications of everyday life, come rest a while and put your feet up.. you deserve it.

Retreat (the)

Exhibited: Archipelago, 79 x 79 cm, oil on board, 2017, sold

Evoking the strength and passion felt for the All Blacks and Rugby. This loose work with fluid brush strokes holds the mythical Minotaurs (1/2 bull/1/2 man), joining in a challenge to their opponents with a traditional Haka.

Rise Up

244 x 160 cm, oil on board, 2005, sold

An imagined scene of the last of the New Zealand native birds migrating across a vast sky to find a new home. Our birds are leaving and they're taking their luggage with them (suitcase stickers state: 'No Plan B' and 'Rapture' - which is upside down). Birds shown are: Kokako, Grey Heron and being carried due to the fact that it can't fly, the Kiwi. The threat of loss is portrayed by the eternal, horizonless sky with no landing place (none that is depicted) but with a hope for the future in the majestically coloured clouds - a dream state, a whimsy but also an aspiration for a better life. View “In Flight” for the companion piece to this artwork.

Rising Up

Exhibition: For the Birds, 100 x 75cm, Oil on Panel, 2019, sold

On a dry summers day, a sheep farmer is seen walking with his dog, herding his sheep down the rural back roads of New Zealand. The title hints at a final destination for the sheep - something large is approaching off on the horizon.

Roads End

Exhibited: Interior Landscape, 152 x 76 cm, oil on linen, 2006, sold

One of the few island works depicting two of the same species of bird, they perch upon the red roof of a classic villa. The lawns are beautifully landscaped and hidden within the undergrowth is a Tuatara

Roost

85 x 85 cm, oil on canvas, 2018, sold

An early work from my farm series - this monochromatic artwork displays the scene of some kind of an altercation with all the onlookers curious as to what has happened.

Rubberneckers

Exhibited: Stone's Throw, 152 x 60 cm, oil on canvas, 2005, sold

A couple of farmers wait out a herd of black cattle on a rural road (the rush hour). The farm dog uses his ‘strong-eye’ to keep moving the cows in the right direction. View ‘Morning Drove’ for more cows or ‘Roads end’ for sheep

Rush Hour

178 x 73 cm, oil on linen, 2007, sold

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