Featured Artist Richard Rosebery

Deeply inspired by the landscape in the Australian bush, artist Richard Rosebery’s paintings explore wild and remote places.

“Gnarled” Acrylic on Canvas, 21.5cm x 25.5cm

Throughout my life I’ve been a lover of nature and an adventurer at heart. My first job in the 1970’s was as a bush guide in the spectacular Blue Mountains west of Sydney and along the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea. I have sought out remote and wild places ever since, both in my previous life as a hotelier and marketer, and now after graduating with a Fine Arts degree from Australia’s National Art School as a professional artist.

“Big Hole, Ellery Creek” Acrylic on Canvas, 25.5cm x 21.5cm

My grandfather was a landscape painter, and as a young boy I felt this natural inclination to paint the land too. I was so proud at the age of nine when my parents framed my first painting and gave it a place of honor in our home. Such encouragement egged me on!

“Broken Back” Acrylic on Board, 31cm x 21cm

I was inspired as well by my many visits to the Art Gallery of New South Wales where I was captivated by the landscapes painted by successive generations of local Australian artists. Some of the artists who influenced my work were romantic painter Eugene von Guérard with his awe-inspiring scenes, impressionist depictions of the Australian bush by Frederick McCubbin and, in later years, the landscape abstractions of modernist Fred Williams as well as the colourful near-surrealism works of Australian artist, the celebrated William Robinson.

“Haast Bluff” Acrylic on Canvas, 25.5cm x 21.5cm

It was a book, however, given to me by my father, of the enigmatic watercolours of Australian indigenous artist Albert Namatjira that had enormous influence on me from an early age. So it was inevitable that I had to journey to his country and capture it with paint.

“Daydream” Acrylic on Canvas, 30.2cm x 30.2cm

In July 2016, I visited Central Australia, spending several weeks sketching, painting and photographing the beautiful Western MacDonnell Ranges west of Alice Springs. This exploration formed the basis for the majority of my work in 2017 and 2018.

“Ormiston Gorge” Acrylic on Board, 41cm x 30cm

The MacDonnell Ranges are an ancient place of big blue skies, blazing red rocks, ghostly white gum trees and cool deep green gorges. The year 2016 saw above average rainfall in Australia’s Red Centre, and as a result, this barren land was transformed into a green and red wonderland that is depicted throughout these works.

“Toward Freycinet” Acrylic on Board, 30cm x 40cm

I follow in the traditions of Western representative art, exploring paint, colour, geometric composition and perspective. I attempt to capture Australia’s poetic nature, to encapsulate a sense of place through memory, emotion and intuition. It is my intention to instill a sense of awe for our environment in the mind of the viewer.

“Mt. Sonders” Willow Charcoal on Paper, 42cm x 29.7cm

My lyricism of line and often-intense colour are intended to accentuate the otherness and beauty of the Australian bush. I paint and draw on canvas, board or paper using oils, acrylics, pastels, ink and charcoal. Even though landscape is my passion, I also enjoy depicting “the landscape of a face” and in 2018 I undertook several portrait commissions. A passion for detail is inherent in all my work, whether it’s landscape or an occasional portrait, where the whole is made up of minute detail.

“On the Road to Papunya” Acrylic on Canvas, 25.5cm x 21.5cm

My current paintings abound in hyperrealism and intriguing detail, where the viewer is hopefully drawn into the nuances of the works.

Artist Richard Rosebery invites you to follow him on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Learn more by visiting his website. Link to Carolyn’s original article here.