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Home > Paintings > 2018 - Winds of Change

Gallery Blurb:

Since the early ‘80s, artist Ashley Smith has lived and worked from a crumbling, windswept headland on the North Canterbury coast. He bought the land after discovering, during the course of a six year global odyssey, that his juices liked being near the sea and were most stimulated by his home region’s crazy weather patterns.

“The sudden shifts of life’s flow passing through and around us; culturally, meteorologically, personally, always have the power to surprise.

You’re an island nation of pristine waters and clamorous birdcall when a sail broaches the horizon…

You glance up from an endless summer to find a rampaging southerly bearing down on you. …A young family-man, raising a home on a rural headland,  a moment’s distraction and suddenly you’re an old, bald bloke rummaging for the car keys and your friend’s name…

Ashley Smith hopes these paintings, from a milestone period of his life will, like life’s gearshifts, have the power to surprise.”

Kaikoura Monday

Kaikoura Monday

On my studio windowsill a little brass whale
and a random peg grew, over a few years, to
resemble each other - so I played with that.
Good people have crashed and burned
trying to find a subliminal message!

This work was in my previous show with the unattractive name 
'Kaikoura Kraken'. It fared better with this title.

acrylic on canvas
Year2018
Urbanisation

Urbanisation

Year2018
Birdland

Birdland

Capt. Cook's diary mentions the clamorous birdsong
that could be heard from off the coast.
The gallery selected this image to represent my 2018
'Winds of Change' exhibition.

acrylic on canvas
Year2018
A Break in the Weather

A Break in the Weather

I tried to cheer it up by not calling it 'Depression'.
It's still not very perky though. However great fun
using the pseudo woodcut ' washout' technique.

resist ink/gauche on card
Year2018
Bi-directional Bio Morph

Bi-directional Bio Morph

I worked at giving the sad progression shown here
a positive direction also - in that if you read it from rt to left
the farmer removes his cattle from the water and plants
willows and natives.
Year2018
Blowing in the Wind

Blowing in the Wind

Painted this after reading' Why Dylan Matters'
which demonstrated the continuum between
Homer, Ovid and Dylan and the positive effect
of their lyric snaffling.
Year2018
The Voyager

The Voyager

A friend described his young daughter doing this
to help the progress of their fishing dingy.
The mature lady who bought it said she was now sailing back.
Nice.
Year2018
Memory

Memory

'What's his name?!...I've almost got it!'
One of the most popular images in my 2018 show
- across the generations ( prompted some kids to ask about
their grandparents!)

acrylic on canvas
Year2018
Reflecting

Reflecting

Based on a local glimpse
where I realised the conversationalists
formed a mirror image.

bronze
Year2018
Her Personal Tempest
or 
Old Lady being Attacked by Jellyfish

Her Personal Tempest or Old Lady being Attacked by Jellyfish

Actually, I think 'Localised Weather'
stops it seeming so depressing.

bronze on granite
Year2018
Raging Brogues

Raging Brogues

An exuberant tribute to '50's rock.

bronze on Oamaru bluestone
Year2018
Hobo Robot

Hobo Robot

Our hands have evolved so cleverly
- they'd love to do some menial stuff!
The style was after I'd just seen 'Loving Vincent'.

acrylic on canvas
Year2018
The Subsumption of a Weather Lady

The Subsumption of a Weather Lady

I wonder if, in the history of mankind,
a painting has ever been called that before?
A nonchalant exploration of the graphics
pertaining to wind and weather.

acrylic on canvas
Year2018
North Canterbury Gothic

North Canterbury Gothic

A broody ' Wuthering Heights' type treatment
of the beach below us.
A lot of 'dry brush' painting and some
metalic gold.

acrylic on hessian
Year2018
Earthmother

Earthmother

Based on a painting my daughter did
when she was first pregnant
Year2018
Summer's End

Summer's End

You can see them coming...the big
Southerlies straight from Antarctica which spell
the end of the endless summer.
Year2018