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31 Dec That was 2024

I was very busy, at least I thought so!  But (oh no!) I don’t seem to have much to show for it this year. I WILL make a point of fixing that in the New Year. There were some bigger commissions I needed to catch up on (still going with a couple of them, but they will be out the door very soon!). Here are some (randomly chosen) paintings of 2024…..

Very Small Paintings

Some of these (and there haven’t been too many in 2024, sorry!) are more detailed because I’m using them as ‘studies’ for possible larger paintings.
Here you see a few of my favourites.

Other Paintings

It’s been a big year of marine art for me – topped off by winning Best in Show Maritime with Resting Ketch at Sunset in the Marine Artists Australia (ASMA) annual National exhibition in Melbourne! Very exciting and a thrilling surprise, especially as there was some truly great work in the exhibition.

I delivered a large painting of the maxi yacht Whisper, placed fourth on Line Honours in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race through some ‘horrendous’ conditions. It was nerve wracking (for me) following the boats on the Rolex Live Tracker! I can’t imagine how nervous the friends, colleagues & families of the sailors felt. One skipper described the conditions as like being in a washing machine.  ⚓️ So many yachts (about 20 of the fleet) retired with major damage plus 2, almost 3 with shocking tragic loss of life. Today a memorial service was held in Hobart for those lost, condolences were sent from all over the world. 💐💐⚓️

The ocean is beautiful yet terrifying in many ways, and so powerful, yet it draws us to it time after time.

Very Small Paintings

Marine and Other larger Paintings

01 Dec Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

This began with Stepping Stone House* in 2023.
A certificate was auctioned at the RSYS to its members, for a painting of the winner’s boat, as fundraising
contribution to Stepping Stone House in 2023.

The winner, owner and skipper of maxi yacht Whisper, wanted a larger work than was won at the auction so
it grew (considerably) and became a commission. It was very exciting for me because the images I was able
to use as reference were taken by an official Rolex photographer, Craig Greenhill – so I knew the reference material
would be a great selection. It was. Nice close up images on the water, choppy sea and plenty of action!
Thank you Craig Greenhill of Salty Dingo for supplying the stunning images.

⚓️ Whisper is a highly competitive maxi yacht (JV 62), currently holding the race record for the CYCA Montague
Island Race. She will be competing in this years’ Rolex Sydney Hobart 2024, so you know who to follow!

⚓️ The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has built a global reputation to become one of the most famous
fixtures on the international sporting calendar.

⚓️ The Organ Pipes are a collection of dolerite cliffs and sea stacks at Cape Raoul in Tasmania that were formed
around 180 million years ago. These cliffs are known for their distinctive organ-like shape. Cape Raoul is the
brooding cape that greets sailors once they have rounded Tasman and they imagine they are on the homeward
run to Hobart. Theoretically it is about six hours’ sailing time from Tasman to Hobart, but clearing the Raoul has
been the bane of many a soul in the teeth of a south-west gale in Storm Bay in the middle of the night.
When your electrics have gone, when you are showing no navigation lights to other yachts and the cape is lost
against a moonless sky, you begin to imagine the sound of the surf on its shore is just a boat length away.

*Created by Max and Joan Connery in 1989, Stepping Stone House is a dedicated community providing
long-term accommodation & support for children and young people (12-24 years) at risk or facing difficult
situations so they can begin to heal,build resilience, create connections and become the very best they can be.
A great cause started by a very generous couple. 

“Rounding the Organ Pipes” 76 x 101cm 2024. Maxi yacht “Whisper” rounds the bend at Cape Raoul into the mouth of the River Derwent and heads Hobart way, finishing the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in 2022. The seas here are breathtaking, but more often dominated by large waves and swirling unpredictable, dangerous seas, but on this day the conditions were perfect!

25 Nov Marine Artists National Exhibition 2024

I’m HONOURED to be a winner!
🏅 Best in Show : Maritime Award 🏅
Marine Artists Australia National Exhibition 2024 was held at the VAS (Victorian Artists Society)
in Melbourne this year. Sadly I was unable to attend as I was finishing a commission (see next post). To my great surprise, and excitement, I was informed that I won the Maritime Award!
The Judge commented:
“Suzy creates an evocative scene with light and shadow, reflection and silhouette to great effect.  She invites the viewer to ponder the journey of the ketch at close of day.”
….. Richard Linton, Award Judge, renowned Australian marine artist.
SUZY KING, FASMA
🎨 ‘Resting Ketch at Sunset’
104 x 104cm. Oil
A huge thank you to Richard Linton, MAA and Award sponsor @ossa_ltd
(Offshore & Specialist Ships Australia)

18 Jul Gosford

I’m thrilled to announce that one of my Urban Tree paintings has been selected as a finalist
in the Gosford Art Prize!
“This year we received over 900 entries with many quality artworks being submitted for the award.
We have selected 136 entries, your artwork being one of these for exhibition”

🔴 I didn’t win the prize but I’m happy to say that my painting sold at the exhibition.
Thank you Gosford Regional gallery!

@gosfordgallery

10 Jul Crossing New England

I’m very proud to be invited to share in this exhibition! This will be my first time
in the Armidale Art Gallery, and alongside a great lineup of artists from
across New South Wales. I love the concept. Really looking forward to this exhibition.

The details are below, and here

05 Mar Sometimes things change!

I painted the work on the right last year for the Australian Wooden Boat Festival Exhibition in Hobart.
The reference image was kindly supplied by Graeme Broxam (a learned authority on Tasmania’s wooden boat history)
I loved the image, and the more I researched the precious timbers of Tasmanian ship building, the more interested
I became… anyway, the grainy black and white picture was from about 1908 so it was a challenge!

It’s a bit like painting blind when you have no idea what the colours may have been at the time. When the painting
came back to my studio after the show, there was plenty of time to look at it on my wall. That can be good. Or bad!
(look at something long enough and you can’t resist the temptation to mess with it!). So this year I had another go.
Both (to me) have good elements, but the new version has much more depth/distance.
The risk of course to go too far and “overwork” the painting. (Months of work down the drain! I so hate that!).
This is it now. Forever.

Huon Ladies, 2024
Finished (really!), dry and available (from me). Click the picture for a larger view.

27 Dec What happened in 2023

🎨 It was a “patchy” year for me I guess. A bit great, a bit not so much.
This was a year for the Australian Wooden Boat Festival so I did some research on rare Tasmanian timbers and some
of the old boats of the 1900s. The timber story is truly fascinating!
And the boats were beautiful, and hardy. Some still floating, many being faithfully restored and given new life.
My painting for the festival, Huon Ladies was based a very small b&w image taken in Dunnelly c1908. Challenging! I’m not happy
so I will revisit that work in 2024.

🎨 I was invited to paint boats racing on Sydney Harbour, based at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in Kirribilli a few years ago.
The work was auctioned to raise money for Stepping Stone House. Self funded, SSH supports young people facing homelessness
due to poverty, family violence & inequality. In 2023, we changed that a little bit. A Certificate was auctioned and the lucky winner
gets a painting of their own boat. Keen sailors are hard to catch!
They are always away sailing somewhere, but the “study” is finally approved and we are on the way to a very nice painting! Stay tuned!

🎨 In March I entered a major landscape prize, sadly I bombed out on that one, with a very bruised ego. Never mind, we move on!
After that, here were some commissions, some new very small works, a couple of online exhibitions, then a new collection for the Moree Gallery.

🎨 I was selected as a finalist in the 9×5 Waverley Woollahra Landscape Prize which was great! Two Paintings too!
🎨 The Australian Society of Marine Artists (Marine Artists Australia) National Exhibition was held in Melbourne this year.
I entered two paintings, and won the Curator’s Choice Award (such a compliment that a great marine artist selected my work!),
and the work sold as well. Very happy was me!
🎨 I’m very excited to say that the Moree Gallery has already sold almost half of the new collection!

That’s it for 2023.

04 Dec Some Marine Art

For me, a radical change in subject matter is a bit like a holiday! It’s rejuvinating.
Marine Artists Australia have introduced 4 small online exhibitions each year (a nice idea
because you don’t have to ship everything!)

Here are three very different pieces from two exhibitions, one online and one not –
I’m very excited to say I won The Curator’s Award in the ASMA National Annual Exhibition,
which was held at the Victorian Artists Society in Melbourne this year. It was a great surprise,
and even better, the work SOLD at the exhibition! Very proud am I!

The theme for one online show was “Fish & Ships” (cute!), so of course I had to paint a fish.
I really enjoyed the fish, maybe I’ll paint more sea creatures in the future.
I’m happy to say this one SOLD as well (but post exhibition).

The final work here, is the first study for a larger commission, so it’s only really a sketch.
I entered it in the ASMA National but I’m holding onto this one as reference for a larger study
and then the commission (click the image below for a larger view).
Stay tuned… if you like marine art.

13 Jul Very Small Paintings

It’s been a while buy my Very Small ones are back!

I’m planning to post a few groups of the little ones every week or two – so visit this site
and my window in Balmain (if you are close by). This is where they appear first,
followed by my Instagram page and finally Facebook.

Because of the low price (they are very small!) I don’t show these in galleries – so this is the only place you can aquire these little gems!

28 Mar Welcome to 2023!

Well, I am a bit late but as it’s coming up to Easter and this is the Year of the Rabbit,
I thought it was ok!

I can’t say much so far this year but I did have a painting in the ASMA Lady Nelson Art Exhibition
in February. It was in Hobart City Hall during the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.

For those who were not part of the residency aboard the beautiful tall ship Lady Nelson, like me,
the brief was to enter something maritime and Tasmanian themed. I thought I knew a little about Huon Pine
and some of the native forest timbers of Tasmania but no! The more I found out, the less I knew!
There are the timbers… and then there is a very rich and interesting maritime history here as well.
Another ‘kettle of fish’ entirely!

Anyway, as I didn’t have a couple of years available to do more research, I concentrated on the lovely old boats
crafted from now rare and protected (thankfully) Tassie timbers. Natural oils in the wood act as preservative
so many boats are still floating and (even better) are being restored.

Huon Ladies 76 x 76cm, oil on canvas, 2023.
(Available. Enquire here)
Sturdy, superbly crafted wooden boats of the early 1900s were built from the finest native timbers endemic to Tasmania’s West Coast.
Huon Pine (the ‘Prince’ of conifers), King Billy and Celery Top. The Huon Ladies are fine examples of Tasmania’s Heritage.
(Ref: Dunalley c1910 kindly supplied by Graeme Broxam).