Lanes

Out on the track

Broken Ground

The old nightcart lanes near where I live in Ballarat are an unusual environment. Whereas the streets are neatly picket fenced and rose-bushed, the lanes let their hair down. There's no pretension here, just dented tin, rotten timbers, garages, sheds, rusting cars, and dogs... lots and lots of vocal dogs. While the streets, named for towns such as Ripon and Ascot in the old country, tell us about where the founders of the city came from, the three lane names - Anticline, Syncline and Quarry - tell us why they came.

I started making small oil studies in preparation for some larger paintings but soon realised that the intimate scale of the studies suited the subject, so they are now the exhibition. While they don't do a Vivaldi, they have been made over 14 months and represent the lanes in all weathers and seasons... but mostly sun and summer because painting outside in the rain is crap. Really.

These paintings form part of a solo exhibition at Space22 gallery in Ballarat running from the 3rd to the 20th of March 2011.

Visit the lanes with Google Street View

Click on the thumbnails to see bigger images and more information. Most paintings shown on this site are for sale. If you are interested in any of these paintings, contact me or my galleries for a chat.