I love love love the Australian painter Guy Maestri. Between him, Tim Summerton and the magnificent Cy Twombly, they made me paint. Made me pick up a paint brush and give it a go. Made me believe by looking at their strokes that I could do it. Guy Maestri's paintings are often hanging in a fair amount of the homes that are photographed for Inside Out magazine. This is where my love affair began, within the pages of a glossy magazine. My eyes dance when they take in the freedom that he is able to replicate, something that is very hard to achieve. Clearing your mind and just letting yourself go. Falling with the paint knowing where you will land and running with it. He replicates nature, over and over tumbling onto the canvas. Scratching and pulling back, layering layer upon layer over and over. Keeping going until at last he stands back and knows he is done.
Tim Summerton another wonderful Australian artist. I am in awe of his landscapes. The rhythmic flow of balance. Leaving the top quarter free, working rubbing filling the paper or canvas until it is full. The scale is absorbed as if he is sitting with in a costal plane or watching the sea. The mapping of elements around him he piles the paint, layering around him. Letting the oil run away, it slops through and down the painting. I feel like I am sitting by his side when I see his landscapes, my eyes sing.
As for Cy Twombly, he deserves a post of his own. Another day unfortunately, as it is late.
Photograph of Cy Twombly by Ashley G Tucker.