natural earth palette

It was while experimenting with Sepia Tones that I started using a palette that included Yellow Oxide, Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna. These colours are made from clay containing iron oxide and manganese oxide that When heated take on an intense rich colour ideal for painting shadows.

My paintings using the natural earth palette were very different from what I had been doing. Apart from the rich warm tones and landscape affiliations, they had an emotional impact.

Researching the history, properties and provenance of the new colours led me down a different path, one that forged unexpected connections between my new work and the work of artists going back centuries. Focussing more on the materiality of my practice inspired me to make my own paint. I felt a connection with artists from the past like Leonardo and Caravaggio.

TERRA D’OMBRA 

2026 AOTEAROA ART FAIR

30 April - 3 May 2026

Auckland Events Centre, courtesy of Black Door Gallery

Terra D’Ombra is Italian name for Burnt Umber, which translated literally as “shadow land”. Umber was originally made from clay found in Umbria and used widely from Renaissance times.

BURNT OFFERINGS

Muse Art Gallery

7 July - 6 Aug 2026

ARTIST STATEMENT

At the start of 2026, there was a workshop fire outside my studio. The wreckage looked like something out of Gaza. I was struck by the awesome beauty of it all. The steel struts that had once held the roof were weirdly twisted, standing in testament to the intensity of the blaze. Most beautiful, were the stacks of charred planks of wood all neatly piled up, black and gnarly.

I gathered some of the charcoal, ground it and mixed if with binder medium to make a thick black paint. I was pleased with how it blended with the earth tones and added another dimension to the painting.

TRUTH

ARTIST STATEMENT

My recent focus on earth colours and landscape artists led me to rediscover the work of iconic New Zealand artist, Colin McCahon. I had admired his series of paintings from the 1970’s, Truth From The King Country, painted in earth colours with a large T over the landscape. His work is as powerful as it was then and his words seem prophetic.

Having been brought up Catholic, I was interested to learn the T shape represents the Tau Cross and it first appears in the old testament with Ezekial. It represents salvation, and later with St Francis as a symbol of penance, and Franciscan spirituality. I see the T shape as a structural device, one that allows my work to take on a deeper meaning, whether to challenge power as McCahon did, or to playfully allude to the deception of the painted creases.

Stencilling the T shape over my painting was a break through moment, as it simultaneously disrupted the illusion of spatial depth and reinforced it. In Burnt Offerings, I have used the T as an alter upon which sacrifices are made.