In this fresh body of work, Ross Skinner explores the intricate plays of light on the bays of Sydney Harbour and beachs of the south coast of NSW.
Ross´ very spontaneous manner of painting "en plein aire", in oil and occasionally acrylic paint, captures the fleeting colours and moments the effects of light have on the natural landscape.
His observations, in the seasons just past, invite us to renew our acquantaince with places both seeemingly familiar and yet unfamiliar. His obvious enthusiasm in working a painting on site requires an essential facility of brush, plus an acute keeness of observation, necessary to capture the moody essence of the landscape. His paintings come from a direct response to place and express that moment of defining sunlight and inspired vision. With quick effortless brushstrokes, Ross Skinner minimises detail to an impression, that allows us to experience our own intimate interpretation, of the scene that has so captured his attention.

"that certain texture, this is Australia"

In this exhibition Katherine Rooney celebrates observing and painting in the Australian landscape, this time in the cattle grazing lands of the Southern Highlands of NSW. Despite being born & raised in Sydney, she describes herself as "a country girl at heart", embarking on long road trips to paint and draw the colours, textures of rural Australia.
With thick layers of paint, Katherine Rooney takes "in the moment" - a turned head, the blocky timeless shapes, each member of the herd observed in her own signature style.

A captured moment, a road trip drive-by, a glimpse of the scene ahead of the windscreen... What I personally love about our land and light is.. in this body of work... the shimmer of the heat haze across the grazed land,.. the long stretched out shadows, the rugged textures of dirt & rock against the sun bleached grass... a tiny lake of relief... I crave for the.. stillness and softer sounds, over the ever alluring yet chaotic noise of the city.

Once again Katherine Rooney celebrates her experiences in the Southern Highlands in her postcard sized works.

Katherine Rooney's work was recently included in the alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection exhibition, Salon des Refusés 2017 at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney.

For Michael Ambriano this new body of work explores the interaction between place (sky, land, sea) and memory.
"I wanted... to look out and up at the sky and sea... instead of the inwards perspective of the land and the bush. I wanted to revisit the memory of the power, feelings and majesty of these places... to recapture that (which) sea and sky had provoked in me...
Revisiting these places experienced as a child, and now as an adult, with my own children... meandering along the rocks and winding coastal paths... stopping, I would see my next painting unfold before my eyes
Similar to a musician hearing the beginning of a piece of music in their mind for the first time... the freedom, the power, the exhilaration of the sea and the constantly changing sky unfolding...