About my recent work

Since I started drawing in 2006, my work has undergone significant changes. I often hear, 'your style has changed again'. Yes it has and will continue to do so.
I think it is quite a valid path for an artist exploring their medium. Of course, many artists stick to a style, but I can't do that. I get bored. Apparently this is marketing suicide...but who cares. I ain't doing this for market reasons...im doing it because I love drawing and want to push my work as far as i can.
My early colourful representational landscapes were fun at the time. It was a beginning. Yes, they sold well..and my work doesn't sell as well now...but again, thats a dangerous way to think. It can often be counterproductive to ones development. However, when I look at many of my favourite artists, I find, they too, went through numerous transformations.
Its called growth.

I went through a period of abstraction earlier this year with my 'abundance' series, which you can view below. I wanted to leave representational landscape references behind for a bit and see where it took me. I still worked on paper with my favourite medium...pen and ink. Recently, my work is starting to see the re-emergence of landscape forms...and i welcome them back. This is forming into a series called 'where the desert meets the sea' and another series titled "Lost Pegs', and again draws on the influences of the Eyre Peninsula where I lived for many years. There is something about the space that I am trying to capture...if i can capture it.
There is no such thing as a true connection to land for white fellas like me, but one can only try.
I've been looking at the work of Julie Mehretu and Judy Pfaff which have influenced me somewhat in my drawing. I tried Julie Mehretu's method in her approach to drawing, only to find it too calculated and formula- like for me. I prefer working in an intuitive way with a limited awareness of where the work is going to go. The only sure thing in my approach is in the intial framework I lay down...then its free form from then on.

I apologise for the poor quality of the images.....my camera has seen better days.

Current series in progress - Where the desert meets the sea




where the desert meets the sea, mixed media on paper, 2011, 80cm x 90cm

Abundance series - 2011- Selected drawings




Desert-Sea, 2011, mixed media on paper, 150cm x 90cm

Abundance pink, mixed media on paper, 2011, 150cm x 90cm

Abundance Yellow Green, mixed media on paper, 2011, 150cm x 60cm

Lost Peg series - 2011

Lost Pegs #3 ,2011, tryptich, 80cm x 15cm, mixed media on paper

Suzannah Jones, Lost Pegs #4, 2011, mixed media on paper, 10cm x 15cm

Suzannah Jones, Lost Pegs #5, 2011, mixed media on paper, 10cm x 15cm

Lost Pegs #6, 2011, mixed media on paper, 10cm x 15cm

Lost Pegs #7, mixed media on paper, 10cm x 15cm

Lost Pegs #8, 2011, mixed media on paper, 45cm x 50cm

The series, Lost Pegs, came about after noticing pegs in strange and obscure places, when out drawing in the arid surrounds of the upper Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. I’d be sitting doodling in a quiet place when I would look down and see a peg embedded in the earth. How did it get there? What story lead it to be left in the red dirt, a lonely testimate to someone’s brief visit. The thing is, I started to notice them everywhere, so I began to incorporate them into my landscape drawings. Perhaps this is where the pegs go? The ones that seem to disappear over time out of my peg basket? However, there is nothing profound about my usage of them as a subject. I just like drawing them. I like how mundane objects take on a new meaning when out of their usual context. Suddenly a peg is more interesting, suddenly it has a story beyond being a humble peg‘.