Postcard From Puniho

Randomly Dropped Matches

2016-08-23T12:03:00.000+12:00

Randomly Dropped Matches
This little quartet was painted consecutively with the idea of them being framed together as a single work. Rather than artfully arranging the matches I wanted to try a random approach, and for each new arrangement I picked up the same matches, all with their heads upwards and held them about an inch above the surface, before dropping them. I didn't cheat and re-drop them or rearrange them. I did however, allow myself the liberty of framing them visually in my compositions, so that some outlying matches were omitted as they would not have fit my small square format. I am fascinated by the nature of randomness, and the way that following a few simple set parameters in a process can create patterns and a kind of order. I was also aware of the similarities of dropping sticks or other objects - dice or cards for example - to divine fortunes, As in the I Ching

Dead Center

2016-07-23T22:17:00.002+12:00

Dead Center

Oil on gessoed aluminium panel

approx 75x75mm

I found this packet of unusual yellow headed matches.

Sold

Rocks at Stent Road

2016-05-25T11:22:00.000+12:00

Rocks at Stent Road

oil on aluminium

176x280mm

Komene Beach

2016-05-24T12:21:00.000+12:00

Komene Beach

Oil on aluminium panel

220x350mm

POA

South Taranaki Coast

2016-05-17T13:30:00.000+12:00

South Taranaki Coast

Oil on aluminium panel

175x180mm

$300

Over the Rocks at Stent Road

2016-05-16T10:47:00.000+12:00

Over the Rocks at Stent Road

Oil on aluminium panel

200x300mm approx

$300

Seagull and Rocks Stent Road

2016-05-08T10:43:00.000+12:00

Seagull and Rocks Stent Road

Oil on linen on MDF

150x200mm

$250

Quartet of Coloured Pencil Points

2016-05-05T17:52:00.000+12:00

sold

A quartet of coloured pencil points. All painted on recycled ivory piano keys and mounted on wood. Ebony and sapele. $90 each if anyone's interested.

Self Portrait on a Matchbox

2015-11-13T13:38:00.001+13:00

Self Portait on a Matchbox

Oil on MDF

$130

I see that is almost one whole year since I posted anything here. I have been giving the smaller format paintings a bit of a rest, while I concentrate on some larger scale work.

However this one just popped out the other day and I realised just how much fun and exciting it is to paint on a micro scale! I actually find it liberating rather than limiting and although it is small this is painted very expressively, I feel.

It is not literally painted on a matchbox, however it is on a piece of MDF of the exact dimensions, including thickness, of a larger box of New Zealand Beehive Matches Made in Sweden. The moral, if there is one, is don't believe anything you are told at face value....

Wooden Penguin - Trojan Series

2014-12-22T12:29:00.000+13:00

Wooden Penguin - the Trojan Series

Oil on Plywood

200x200mm

$old

Toy Wooden Dog - Trojan Series

2014-12-21T12:07:00.000+13:00

Toy Wooden Dog

Oil on plywood

200x200mm

$0ld

They say that every dog has it's day. Well this dog is still patiently waiting...

Wooden Elephant - Trojan Series

2014-12-20T12:17:00.000+13:00

Wooden Elephant

Oil on plywood

200x200mm

$old

Wooden Donkey - Trojan Series

2014-12-19T12:05:00.001+13:00

Wooden Donkey - Trojan Series

Oil on plywood

200x200mm

sold

This is from a mini-series I painted of toy wooden animals called the Trojan Series, for a gallery exhibition.

Two Bottles With a Pepperpot

2014-12-17T11:35:00.000+13:00

Two Bottles With a Pepperpot

230x195mm

Oil on mounted linen

$400

I forgot to add that these last two paintings are framed. If that is of any consequence.

Old Bottles and a Lemon

2014-12-16T12:05:00.001+13:00

Old Bottles and a Lemon

Oil on mounted cotton

230x195mm

$400

1001

2014-12-15T10:50:00.001+13:00

Burnt Paper Match 1001

Oil on linen on MDF

100x100mm

$120

1001

New Light Through Old Glass

2014-11-29T11:20:00.000+13:00

New Light Through Old Glass

Oil on mounted cotton

$POA

This will be the 1000th post here and this seems a good painting to celebrate that numerical milestone with.

This also happens to be Black Friday, which in case you live under some kind of cyber rock, you will know is the day of mass sales after Thanks Giving in the US, and I thought to celebrate I would have a sale of my own!

So, from today until the end of december, I am offering a 30% discount on all my unsold Postcardfrompuniho paintings. Hopefully, most of the sold ones have a red dot by them, however, if you want to buy one (without a red dot)and it turns out my book keeping is not up to scratch and it has indeed been sold, then you can have an alternative unsold one for 35% off!

I don't post to this blog very often, and regard this project on hiatus. I have been painting though and have begun work on a series of larger paintings that is all very cloak and dagger at the moment...

I would like to thank everyone for your support and interest over the last few years and wish you all a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year!

Small Blue Bottle

2014-08-12T10:47:00.004+12:00

Small Blue Bottle

Oil on linen on MDF

130x100mm

$150

Muse

2014-08-06T15:26:00.000+12:00

Muse

Oil on mounted cotton

330x330mm

Apparently, according to feminist writings that I've read in the past, the mirror in art represents the "male gaze". I am not above such weakness and debauchery and this is the closest thing I can get to the real thing nowadays.

Still life With More Bottle

2014-07-29T12:30:00.000+12:00

Still life With More Bottles

Oil and pigment mixed to a coloured mud and applied to the surface of thin cotton stuck onto some kind of corrugated plastic stuff

Something by something similar in mm or inches

$ several pieces of printed paper or circular metal tokens

Well, I wanted to call this one "More Bottle". It's always a challenge coming up with interesting and relevant titles for still lifes (lives?) I was trying to paint this one with more gusto and vitality, and the saying "more bottle" popped into my head. It's funny how certain phrases resonate from our past and I'm sure I'm familiar with this as a saying, meaning to give something more life and vitality, or "more balls" - a turn of phrase that seems to be in more common usage in these parts. Anyway, I ran it past "She Who Knows" or "My Better Half", and she had never heard of it and suggested I "ask Uncle Google". Well, Uncle Google doesn't seem to have heard of the expression either, so I'm wondering if I just made it up myself. The closest I could get was "bottled out" or "not much bottle" from the Phrasefinder:

"...that is, 'useless; no good for anything'. This usage is recorded in a glossary of 19th century street English slang The Swell's Night Guide, 1846:

"She thought it would be no bottle, cos her rival could go in a buster." "

Well it may be archaic, but if you can have not much bottle surely you can have more bottle?

Anyhoo... It gives me something to write about and I have bottled out and called it prosaically "Still life With More Bottles".

Narcisi in Cut Glass Vase

2014-07-24T14:39:00.001+12:00

Narcisi in Cut Glass Vase

Oil on mounted cotton

200x172mm
$300

Bouquet of Narcisi

2014-07-24T00:09:00.000+12:00

Bouquet of Narcisi

Oil on mounted cotton

300x275mm

$POA

Every year I have a go at painting narcisi and I always feel like I never get the delicate beauty of them.

Some news: I currently have an exhibition of my self portrait paintings form the past four decades, on the Virtual TART site. I have called it Mirror Mirror.

This is a self portrait from the early 1980's

I have also got a more recent large diptych self portrait on exhibit at Puke Ariki in the Homework show.

Barren Land

2014-06-10T18:03:00.000+12:00

Barren Land

Oil on linen on MDF

150x197mm

$250

I haven't ever been witness to this small amount of snow on our mountain for this time of year. It's been very warm and mild. This view is from the beach at Komene Rd where I walk every day, rain or shine. The farmer who runs stock there, has been clearing new ground and put in water troughs. It occurred to me as I painted this that it is a very elemental image : air - the blue sky, earth, water - the snow and the trough, and fire being the volcano, Mt Taranaki.

Regular visitors to this blog will have noticed I haven't been posting much. I have been working on larger paintings. Also, I'm finding that the small works are no longer selling like they used to. However, I enjoy painting them anyway, and will continue to do so as long as I can afford to. I got quite a shock when I went to order more paint supplies recently and found that the price has literally gone up by 100% here in NZ! In fact, for the first time it was cheaper for me to order internationally and pay the freight and import tax. This is a long round-about way of justifying why I've decided to put my prices up! I've kept the price of these paintings deliberately low over the last eight years or so , so that anyone can afford them. But I'd rather not sell them for a reasonable price than not sell them for a pittance. This is also a good thing for my collectors who have supported me, as their collections are now officially worth more!

Another bit of news: I am part of the Taranaki Arts Trail which takes place this weekend, for those living in or visiting Taranaki.

Two Small Bottles in the Light

2014-03-11T15:11:00.001+13:00

Two Small Bottles in the Light

Oil on linen on MDF

93x152mm

$150

I was trying to capture some of the iridescent quality that I observe in these clear glass bottles.

Cracker Biscuit

2014-03-05T21:37:00.000+13:00

Cracker Biscuit

Oil on linen on MDF

NFS

This was a commissioned painting.