Dave Groom –  Marks and Gardner Artist Statement 2009
New Works

The Landscape

The natural landscape has a timelessness to it that exists in nothing else. As an artist the idea of timelessness is important to me. Fashions come and go in art and life, yet landscape painting if done well, has a timeless quality. Millions of years pass with a gradual evolution of landforms and life, that to our eye, in our brief period of existence, is hard to comprehend. Yet in the landscape, lies our own evolution and our emotions are reflected in it. Its colours inspire us, its moods move us. It can be beautiful, it can be exciting and it can be daunting.

I have the great fortune to be able to live in the natural landscape and experience its changing moods on a daily basis. My studio is built on the edge of Lamington National Park, on a ridge amoungst eucalypt forest that is home to birds and wallabies, goannas and the odd koala. Even here, surrounded by walls and a roof and the clutter of stuff, I can't appreciate the true essence of nature. I have to go out in the Park, preferably alone, to really feel it. Sometimes there's silence, sometimes there's chaos and emotion, sometimes it's just about sitting on a rock, by a pool in the winter sun. Whatever it is, it feels like the truth, or as close to the truth as we can get.

My paintings come from observing nature on a daily basis, taking in the atmosphere and forms around me. I begin by creating a series of study drawings, using charcoal pencils, which I like because of their softness, yet they still allow me to draw fine detail. Drawing is wonderful because it's just about line and tone. The drawings I create are completely from imagination. I may have a particular place in mind but in the end the drawings are imagined landscapes. What I aim to capture is a mood or a story rather than a direct observation of a particular place.

I may do several drawings and then I choose the ones that have a particular feel to them and use them as study pieces for the paintings. The paintings are generally pretty faithful representations of the drawings. My aim is to take the atmosphere of the drawings and transfer it into the paintings. The paintings are generally larger than the drawings, so it's a whole new experience. The drawings are like maps that help me find my way into the paintings. Once I have the basic structure of the painting on canvas, then the drawings become less important and I focus my attention on the painting, refining the colours and tones until that illusive atmosphere appears.

Dave Groom    June 2009