A collection of post Covid paintings dealing with Northern NSW, from the Tweed to the tablelands contrasting the beauty found both in the man-made and natural environments.
LAND MARKS - here and there - 2025
Having spent my entire life living in big cities, it’s no surprise to me that my fascination with the urban image had become the overriding theme in my paintings.
I’ve travelled extensively, pursuing subject matter to capture and translate onto canvas. I’ve covered thousands of kilometres on foot and have slogged my way through the Barrios of Spain, the medinas of Morocco and across the provinces of Cuba and Vietnam. My paintings reflect my passion for colour, texture and formal composition, and the excitement of travelling to new countries.
The Covid lockdown changed things and turned everything around. Travel was suddenly not an option and the uncertainty of it’s duration induced a creative panic...what was a going to paint?
A decade ago I relocated from my home of 30 years in Sydney to the Tweed Valley and built a home and studio in Stokers Siding.
Since my move north I was confronted with a very different landscape, so very green and lush and so far from my painting comfort zone!
Swathes of cane fields and rolling hills and mountain ranges were so foreign to my choice of subject matter. Green is a colour I haven’t previously been all that comfortable with on my palette and I use it sparingly. It’s not a colour I associate with the Australian landscape. I started looking for subject matter locally. Fortunately I lived out of town and had more freedom of movement than I would have in the city. I tried to adapt to a greener, lusher palette but it was a struggle.
Finally the State Government opened up neighbouring Local Government Areas (LGA’s) and I went exploring areas west of the Tweed Valley. I found myself wandering around the Northern Tablelands of NSW. The areas around Tenterfield, Armidale and much later, Stanthorpe just blew me away. A unique landscape of granite boulders and hilly pastoral properties and definite seasonal colour changes to the land. I found my muse and have fallen in love with my new direction in painting.
It is an interesting artistic process solving problems presented by a new surrounding landscape. In the past I had focused on smaller details of the man-made city environment and suddenly, here, I was confronted with the huge expanse of rolling ranges, open plains, broiling clouds and rising mists.
In this exhibition I have included a series of paintings dealing with Northern NSW, from the Tweed to the tablelands and show a collection of works contrasting the beauty found both in the man-made and natural environments.
Scott McDougall