Title

Ron McBurnie: Trees and views, an exhibition of ink and watercolour drawings.

Venues

Grahame Galleries + Editions. (13 September 2014 – 11 October 2014)

Date

(2014)

Summary

Single-artist exhibition. Located: Australia (QLD). Drawings

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

Trees and Views by Ron McBurnie.

The ink and watercolour drawings in this series of work focuses on images of trees and different views the artist witnessed on travels in Australia and France. They were made en plein air between 2009 and 2014 and represent a continuation of McBurnie’s more romantic etchings in the type of marks and imagery used. A couple were completed in the studio but most began and ended their life cycle outside.

For some time McBurnie had been searching for an approach to drawing similar to the way he drew lines into an etching plate. Although enjoying his experiences of working en plein air the resulting surface quality of acrylic paint was not satisfactory. It was not until on a trip to a small village in south-west France in 2009 that the artist used fountain pens and watercolour for the first. As soon as he began to draw lines with the fountain pen he found an affinity with the medium and knew the direction he could take his work. He also discovered handmade ink from America that came in the colours and tonalities he required and that possessed strong light fast properties.

Trees and Views represents places in the landscape special to the artist, which he continues to revisit to draw inspiration from. In many ways these special places possess no more and no less beauty or importance than other places in the landscape that one might journey to but by continually visiting them they become familiar and important. They are like old friends that we visit from time to time. On each visit we understand a little bit more about them and the way we have changed since we last met. [Gallery publicity]