Sydney to Great Ocean Road - Part 3 from Apollo Bay

Cape Otway - looking east from the lighthouse.

Koalas - Cape Otway

I have lived in Australia for over 40 years and whilst I am mainly a city boy I have  never seen a Koala in the wild - until now. Every tree driving back from the Cape Otway Lighthouse had a Koala in it, and some with a joey (baby)  like this one. Quite amazing.

Gibsons Steps
Oil on Canvas 6.5 x 5 inches ( 12 x 7 cm)

For Sale $110 plus $18 shipping / insurance

A kilometre or so before the 12 Apostles rock formation, where one is not allowed on the beach. Climbed down some very steep steps to get to the beach. It was so very peaceful painting on the beach with only the sond of the surf. 
UNTIL!!!! 
   a flotilla of buses disgorged a hundred or so tourists and they all clambered down and made so much noise. After about 10 minutes they all disappeared back up and it was peaceful again I guess they had their 10 mintes and were off for 10 minutes somewhere along the road.

12 Apostles, Port Campbell, Great Ocean Road
Watercolour, Goauche, pen and pencil on paper

For Sale $95 plus $15 shipping / insurance

Loch Ard Gorge

Named after the ship that floundered here in 1878 after a 3 month voyage from England to Melbourne/ Only two of the 53 passengers survived, having been washed ashore here.

London Arch , Great Ocean Road, Victoria

The inner arch collaped in 1990 and two tourists were stranded on the outer part of what was then known as "London Bridge"  Fortunately there were no injuries and the tourists were rescued by helicopter.

If you are interested in a painting click here to contact me 

Sydney to Great Ocean Road - Part 2 On the Road

Brunswick Street, Fitroy, Melbourne
Goauche on Black Paper

Leaving Melbourne we stayed overnight at Torquay and next morning headed out through Barwon Heads.

Barwon Heads, Victoria
Watercolour, Ink and Goauche (7.75 x 5 inches or  20 x 13 cm)

This painting is available for sale  $95 plus $15 postage.




Barwon Heads is well known in Australia as it was the main filming site for the popular TV series Sea Change, and more recently where Cadel Evans (the 2011 Tour de France winner) has a home.

A Lorne morning from the balcony of the Grand Pacific Hotel

Spent the second night at the Grand Pacific Hotel. 140 years old & it is a gem from the past with great atmosphere, super upper viewing balconies and big rooms with high ceilings. It just oozes character from a bygone age.

Apollo Bay
Watercolour, Goauche, pen Pencil on watercolour paper
5.83 × 8.27 inches or 14.8  x 21 cm

As we were leaving Apollo Bay I saw this house on the edge of the bay. It reminded me of the style of the american painter Edward Hopper. Couldn't resist the cypress tree. Dont see many in Sydney but seem common around Melbourne, and in the paintings of Rick Amor.

This painting is available for sale  $95 plus $15 postage

Apollo Bay from the hinterland

Next  - Otway and 12 Apostles

If you are interested in purchasing paintings from this blog click here to contact me          

Sydney to Adelaide via Great Ocean Road - Part 1 Melbourne

The Plan
Travelling from Sydney to Melbourne, along the Great Ocean Road then up to Adelaide, to the Grampians then back to Sydney. About 5000 kms

 A rare platypus sighted from the bridge over the river right in the middle of Benala.

View from the lane near our apartment of the  Exhibiton Building Melbourne
Watercolour and coloured pencil sketch

As we were coming home from dinner we heard this loud music. as the night was still young we followed our ears and found an outdoor skating rink outside the exhibition building. Interesting find in September in Australia. We purchased some crepes from a couple from Brittany and watched the fun. Thought about hiring some skates, but it was way too early in the trip, for  broken ankle, so I chickened out.

We stayed just off Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. it is very quirky area with lots of interesting speciality shops uniquly decorated. Check the one below with a giant flower attracting bees.

One of the reasons we stopped in Melbourne was to see the Klimt and Schiele paintings at the National Gallery of Victoria.


Next The Great Ocean Road

Into the Light , Luna Park, Sydney Harbour

Oil on Board 7 x 5 inches (17cm x12 cm)

A small painting near Luna Park at Lavender Bay in Sydney Harbour

If you are interested in purchasing this painting click here to contact me 


         

Daily Paintworks Challenge - Red Onion

Daily Paintworks has been around for a while, featuring a group of  highly regarded representational painters who do a painting a day.

Recently they have started  "Challenges" in which they anounce a subject and invite artists to take the challenge by painting their version of the subject. One of the recent "Challenges" raised over $28k to  assist various charities with their Japan relief effort.

I took this weeks challenge to "Paint a Vegetable" and contributed a Red Onion. 

Red Onion
4 x 5 inches on Canvas

The painting  is available at Daily Paintworks for $95 plus $15 freight

San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice & Daily Paintworks

           

Size 12 inches x 10 inches (30.5 x 25.4 cm)
Oil on canvas.  

I've joined the daily painting artist group "Daily Paintworks" which offers original fine art daily paintings from a goup of talented artists  I will be posting this painting of Venice to the gallery of paintings that I have available from that site.

Click here to go my gallery at Daily Paintworks


 click here to contact me

Art on the Boardwalk, Lavender Bay, Sydney

Last Sunday I participated in Art on the Boardwalk for the first time. Despite the forecast it turned out to be a fine Sydney day. For those not familiar with Sydney, Lavender Bay is on the north shore, just west of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. It overlooks the Sydney skyline and it is a fabulous location for "plein air" painting particularly on a day like this with plenty of sunshine. It is amazing to realise that this location is only minutes (or 1 train stop) from the CBD.

About 30 artists participated with musicians and mime artists, and whilst the day was about painting on location it was nice chatting to the many people passing by. Mosman Daily newspaper  reported that there was 10,000 people who walked the boardwalk on the day. It kept us fairly busy chatting and answering questions about painting, etc. The interest people had in the paintings was very heartening, also  many people talked about wanting to learn how to paint. In short it was a great fun day and very well organised by the North Sydney council.

 I did not get my demo painting finished on the day. Too much chatting , but here is the finished painting below.

Opera House, Luna Park and Harbour Bridge from Lavender Bay
Oil on Board 10 x 12 inches (25cm x 30cm)

Working hard.

Chatting to people about painting 

If you are interested in purchasing a painting click here to contact me

Royal Botanic Gardens Paginated Garden Exhibition & Sydney Opera House

Three of my paintings were selected for the Paginated Gardens exhibition & shortlisted for the Derivan prize. My Lotus Pond painting was awarded "Highly Commended".  The prize was won by Heidi Hereth

The exhibition proved very popular with 700 people attending over the weekend, & by popular demand the Royal Botanic Gardens are to re-hang the exhibition at the end of July for 2 weeks.

This week the Chronicle will run a story headed "Fred Marsh listed in Sydney Royal Botanic Garden Paginated Garden Exhibition"

The article starts "If a picture is worth a thousand words then artist Fred Marsh had plenty to say at the Sydney Royal Botanic Garden. Mr Marsh, was an artist at the garden’s Paginated Garden exhibition from April 29 to May 1 with three works short-listed for the special event.
The Paginated Garden invited artists to visit the botanic garden and sketch what they saw over a six-week period." The full article is at this link

After the sketchabout finished I did a sketch of the opera house from the gardens. I have listed it to raise funds for the Red Cross Japanese Earthquake Appeal at Daily Paintworks, which has a neat new auction site developed to sell paintings. The painting appears below & the auction is at this link

I can be contacted by clicking here , or via my website





   

Botanic Gardens Sketchabout - Boy Extracting Thorn Statue

A couple of recent sketches from the last few weeks.

Calla Lilies & Statue of Boy Extracting Thorn

Sketching Statue of Boy Extracting Thorn

Great weather last Saturday, which unfortunately has been a rarity during the sketchabout. As I sit posting this I am getting ready for the last sketchabout and it is bucketing rain. Well I shouldn't be concerned, it didn't worry Turner who went out in all conditions including strapping himself to a ship mast in a storm. A downpour is a doddle by comparison -well maybe.

Anyway it has been a lot of fun and a great learning experience.
More sketches of the gardens are on the Royal Botanical Gardens Sketchabout Blog

Thirty sketches will be chosen, framed  and hung as part of the Paginated Garden Exhibition from Fri 29 April to Sun 1 May 2011 in Rathborne Lodge, the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney.  Hope to see you there

More paintings at http://www.marshstudio.com/  or  click to contact me

         

Sketchabout in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

I have been participating  in a sketchabout in the gardens which is being held over a 6 week period. This week is week four. More information on the garden's blog  where you can also see the work of the artists who are participating.

Here are a few sketches from the last few weeks in the gardens

Lotus Pond  
This work was "Highly Commended" in the Paginated Garden Exhibition

Fig Tree on Sydney Harbour

Maiden Theatre

Mount Annan Botanic Gardens


More paintings at http://www.marshstudio.com/  or  click to contact me

Prinsengracht, Amsterdam

Click on image for a larger version

Prinsengracht, Amsterdam

Watercolour, gouache, & pen on paper (8 x 10.5 inches or 20 x 26 cm)

The first time in The Netherlands. It took me a day or two to learn that I had to change my traffic detecting habits to avoid being run over by the hordes of silent cyclists coming up your back in Amsterdam.

After a few near misses & when I learned that I needed to do a 360 degree turn to cross roads & couldn't rely on my ears to detect traffic I came to love this people friendly city. The canals are so picturesque and used by so many different type of craft.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting click here to contact me $175 plus postage outside of Australia

Release of prints from my paintings

I have just released four prints based on my paintings

• Into the Light , Sydney Harbour
  
• Twelve Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Australia
  
• L'escargot on Rue Montorgueil, Paris, France


• Rue Saint Dominique, Paris, France

Click on the image below to see the prints