Portraits
-
The Nail
Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex ($POA)
50 cm W x 70 cm H
I had spent a few weeks in Madagascar when I walked past this little boy standing outside his mother’s small, basic house in the outskirts of Antananarivo (the capital). He had the remnants of tears on his face, and I wonder what had upset him. It was only after I took the photo that I realised he held a nail in his hand as a “plaything”.Read more
The Nail
Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex ($POA)
50 cm W x 70 cm H
I had spent a few weeks in Madagascar when I walked past this little boy standing outside his mother’s small, basic house in the outskirts of Antananarivo (the capital). He had the remnants of tears on his face, and I wonder what had upset him. It was only after I took the photo that I realised he held a nail in his hand as a “plaything”.Quick View -
Beach Treasure
Pastel on Fabriano paper (NFS)
22 cm W x 20 cm H
This is one of our ten grandchildren with that happy summer look on her face. She is a real explorer and nature lover, always finding interesting things to show me.Read more
Beach Treasure
Pastel on Fabriano paper (NFS)
22 cm W x 20 cm H
This is one of our ten grandchildren with that happy summer look on her face. She is a real explorer and nature lover, always finding interesting things to show me.Quick View -
Mongolian Eagle Hunter
Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex paper ($POA)
89 cm W x 70 cm H
Several years ago, my husband and I had a great good fortune to be able to travel to Western Mongolia and attend the famed Golden Eagle Festival. What magnificent days we spent there, learning about, and being immersed in ancient Mongolian culture. This interesting face was one of the “judges” and his garb was typical of what all the other participants were wearing, thick fur hats and coats to keep out the cold.Read more
Mongolian Eagle Hunter
Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex paper ($POA)
89 cm W x 70 cm H
Several years ago, my husband and I had a great good fortune to be able to travel to Western Mongolia and attend the famed Golden Eagle Festival. What magnificent days we spent there, learning about, and being immersed in ancient Mongolian culture. This interesting face was one of the “judges” and his garb was typical of what all the other participants were wearing, thick fur hats and coats to keep out the cold.Quick View -
Himba Queen
Watercolour base and pastels on Mi Tientes Tex ($1580)
54 cm W x 73 cm H
Another wonderful trip overseas saw us in Namibia, Africa where we met and spent time with the Himba tribe. Himba people, especially women, are famous for covering themselves with otjize paste, a cosmetic mixture of butterfat and ochre pigment. Otjize cleanses the skin over long periods due to water scarcity and protects from the hot and dry climate of the Kaokoland, as well as from insect bites. It gives Himba people’s skin and hair plaits a distinctive texture, style, and orange or red tinge, and is often perfumed with the aromatic resin of the omuzumba shrub. Otjize is considered foremost a highly desirable aesthetic beauty cosmetic, symbolizing earth’s rich red color and blood, the essence of life, and is consistent with the OvaHimba ideal of beauty. Women who have been married for about a year or have had a child wear an ornate headpiece called the Erembe, sculptured from sheepskin, with many streams of braided hair coloured and put in shape with otjize pasteRead more
Himba Queen
Watercolour base and pastels on Mi Tientes Tex ($1580)
54 cm W x 73 cm H
Another wonderful trip overseas saw us in Namibia, Africa where we met and spent time with the Himba tribe. Himba people, especially women, are famous for covering themselves with otjize paste, a cosmetic mixture of butterfat and ochre pigment. Otjize cleanses the skin over long periods due to water scarcity and protects from the hot and dry climate of the Kaokoland, as well as from insect bites. It gives Himba people’s skin and hair plaits a distinctive texture, style, and orange or red tinge, and is often perfumed with the aromatic resin of the omuzumba shrub. Otjize is considered foremost a highly desirable aesthetic beauty cosmetic, symbolizing earth’s rich red color and blood, the essence of life, and is consistent with the OvaHimba ideal of beauty. Women who have been married for about a year or have had a child wear an ornate headpiece called the Erembe, sculptured from sheepskin, with many streams of braided hair coloured and put in shape with otjize pasteQuick View -
Pink Stocking’d Run
Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex (Sold)
67 cm W x 77 cm H
Another of our many grandchildren, this time a different season, winter, and she is enjoying a run in a leaf strewn park in her stocking’d feet. Ah the simple joys of childhood.Read more
Pink Stocking’d Run
Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex (Sold)
67 cm W x 77 cm H
Another of our many grandchildren, this time a different season, winter, and she is enjoying a run in a leaf strewn park in her stocking’d feet. Ah the simple joys of childhood.Quick View -
Gone to Atlantis (RIP Raz)
Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex (Sold)
86 cm W x 67 cm H
On February 16, 2019, Lyn ‘Raz’ Burtonwood was rostered for morning surf patrol at Lighthouse Beach, Ballina. He was a fit 69-year-old man who regularly attended the beach for his daily ocean swim. Raz jumped into the water to test the conditions, but quickly drifted down the beach. Soon other members of the surf patrol lost sight of him and immediately launched an inflatable rescue boat but could not locate him. Until light fell the search expanded to include jet skis, drones, helicopters and the SES and resumed again the following morning. The search was extensive, unfortunately, Raz was not found during the search and has not been seen since.
Raz was a well-loved schoolteacher and local identity of the area. He was affectionately known as “Salty Dog” due to his love of the ocean. His disappearance created much speculation, and it was widely “believed” he had been whisked away to the fabled undersea city of Atlantis.
I painted this montage of him, showing some of the many things he was famous for… His terrible self-created hairstyle, his crappy blue car, (which he never locked), his famous one armed “salute”, his small white dog that went everywhere with him, and of course his black speedos and yellow fins that accompanied him on his daily ocean swims. I’m very pleased to say that this portrait was purchased by a benefactor who kindly hung it in the Lighthouse Beach Café and Surf Club near Raz’s beloved beach.Read more
Gone to Atlantis (RIP Raz)
Pastel on Mi Tientes Tex (Sold)
86 cm W x 67 cm H
On February 16, 2019, Lyn ‘Raz’ Burtonwood was rostered for morning surf patrol at Lighthouse Beach, Ballina. He was a fit 69-year-old man who regularly attended the beach for his daily ocean swim. Raz jumped into the water to test the conditions, but quickly drifted down the beach. Soon other members of the surf patrol lost sight of him and immediately launched an inflatable rescue boat but could not locate him. Until light fell the search expanded to include jet skis, drones, helicopters and the SES and resumed again the following morning. The search was extensive, unfortunately, Raz was not found during the search and has not been seen since.
Raz was a well-loved schoolteacher and local identity of the area. He was affectionately known as “Salty Dog” due to his love of the ocean. His disappearance created much speculation, and it was widely “believed” he had been whisked away to the fabled undersea city of Atlantis.
I painted this montage of him, showing some of the many things he was famous for… His terrible self-created hairstyle, his crappy blue car, (which he never locked), his famous one armed “salute”, his small white dog that went everywhere with him, and of course his black speedos and yellow fins that accompanied him on his daily ocean swims. I’m very pleased to say that this portrait was purchased by a benefactor who kindly hung it in the Lighthouse Beach Café and Surf Club near Raz’s beloved beach.Quick View
