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

Leonard Cohen, playing with Javier Mas and Dino Soldo in Sydney 2010

Gouache and watercolour pencil
8 x 5 inches on paper

Last week saw the return of Leonard Cohen to Sydney. It has been 18 months since Leonard Cohen & his bands sensational last concerts in Sydney; which were followed by sensational reviews and desperate envy from those who were unable to attend.

Now 76, Leonard only improves with age as his voice keeps maturing like a deep soulful red wine. His energy is amazing, playing well over 3 hours.

The same superbly talented musicians and singers were with Leonard, they all play multiple instruments and one will rarely hear the richness & excitement of music such as this ensemble plays. My particular favourites are the spine chilling openings by Javier Mas in "Who by Fire" and "The Gypsy's Wife" & wonderful to hear the rarely performed "A Singer must Die". A treat to hear a couple of bluesy new songs (The Darkness and Born in Chains) which will appear on his new album to be released next year. Read the Sydney Morning Herald's review at this link

Click on the following images to see the previous drawings & posts of the Sydney concerts in February 2009.

Leonard Cohen Sydney 2009

Javier Mas - Sydney 2009

Click here to contact me if you want to check availability and price of these paintings.