cooks hill galleries

John Maitland | Rhapsody in Red

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Rhapsody in Red 120cm x 60cm Acrylic and Oil on Board $8900 These paintings are an excuse for excitement! Artists in general tend to be intimidated by the use of red. I find it a tremendously sensual and evocative colour. Let it run, drip, and splash, translucent and transparent, let this exhibition be an homage to RED.		Red Hats 120cm x 90cm Mixed Media on Canvas $4900 Fun and funky! The hats inject life into the work. Whether walking away or standing still, they are loving life – like a fresh drink of water they clean away the cobwebs.
Children & Sunset 90cm x 120cm Acrylic and Oil on Canvas $5940	Bushfire Moon 180cm x 90cm Acrylic and Oil on Board $8900		The Beauty of Childhood 96cm x 129cm Mixed Media on Canvas $6800
Five Girls Running 130cm x 90cm Mixed Media on Canvas $6300 These paintings primarily portray joy – children having fun, tugging pigtails, shouting and laughing. Frivolous and fun.		Girl in Red on Red 120cm x 150cm Acrylic and oil on Canvas $10000 Mothers and children stand in landscapes that are totally Australian. They merge with the landscape and the sound of their voices can be heard over the shrieks of the cockatoos in the distance.
In the Distance 110cm x 140cm Mixed Media on Canvas $8400	The Four of Us 120cm x 120cm Acrylic and Oil on Board $7900	Morning Walk 130cm x 90cm Mixed Media on Canvas $6300
Second Encore 150cm x 140cm Mixed Media on Belgian Linen $11000 Grace, movement and a shimmering quietness as the final position is reached. I have been around the world following the ballet and my aim has been to interpret rather than copy – I’m on the outside observing. My wife and I recently attended a performance by the Imperial Russian Ballet in Brisbane, the experience was surreal. I am still breathless thinking about it. I now have other images I am aching to execute; it’s not easy being an artist! I can go on for hours about meanings and metaphors but ultimately I have to leave the painting to do the talking.		Mother and Child 90cm x 147cm Acrylic and Oil on Canvas $7100 Serious painting: representing the bond that is sacred and holy above all else, leave it alone. Courts are awarding children to fathers wholesale. Fathers have an important role in the lives of their children, of course, but children NEED mothers. The mother/child bond is unbreakable, the mother carries, bears and nurtures the child. I try to capture the sanctity of this bond in all my Mother and Child paintings.
Little Ballerina on Red 52cm x 60cm Acrylic and Oil on Board $1650	Ballerina on Red 125cm x 165cm Acrylic and Oil on Canvas $11600	Red Ribbons 120cm x 120cm Mixed Media on Canvas $7900	Lovers 120cm x 120cm Mixed media on Canvas $7900
On the Ranges 130cm x 90cm Mixed Media on Canvas $6300 A look at the huge landscapes and slopes around Armidale, NSW and surrounding areas. The landscape dwarfs its residents.		Yellow Frangipanis 120cm x 60cm Acrylic and Oil on Board $3900 My interpretation of Australia and her surrounding islands. Utopian landscapes with huge spaces, languid and beautiful – never ending. Definitely paradise found.
Frangipanis 120cm x 60cm Acrylic and Oil on Board $3900		Frangipani Child with Pink Ribbons 120cm x 60cm Acrylic and Oil on Board $3900
Music Score 187cm x 78cm Mixed Media on Canvas $7900			Pink Dawn w/ Cockatoos 106cm x 125cm Mixed Media on Belgian Linen $7200
Hitting the High Notes (triptych) 3x 50cm x 150cm Acrylic and Oil on Canvas $11900 These paintings are a response to driving at night listening to Jazz on the radio. While driving I’m playing with the music in my head. Do I translate it as abstract work or a narrative? I decide to make the musicians into the music, they are representative of sheet music with bars and quavers.		Nightgarden 105cm x 105cm Mixed Media on Canvas $6000 This series is inspired from a time when I lived in the Hunter Valley, NSW. It takes me back to long, warm nights on the balcony and the heavy headiness of the jasmine in the air over summer. The children would be running around laughing and carrying-on and the sky was dark blue, black and peppered with stars. Night Garden is a series within a series.
Alone 60cm x 64cm Acrylic and oil on Board $2300	Ballerina - Green Tutu 60cm x 120cm Acrylic and oil on Board $3900	Gatherer on Green 60cm x 120cm Acrylic and oil on Board $3900	Girl in the Blue Forest 60cm x 120cm Acrylic and oil on Board $3900
Friends 90cm x 124cm Acrylic and Oil on Canvas $6100 The child never grows up. These paintings are championed by pure white horses with child-like figures beside them. They simply portray strength in a quiet landscape. The children in the paintings are shown with all their frailty exposed; they can be dwarfed by the landscape but the horse stands strong, solid and caring, transcendent between the now and what will be		Conall Patrick and the Fallen Nest 90cm x 145cm Mixed Media on Canvas $7100 My young grandson who was with us continually during his formative years, but presently lives in Maitland. Conall-Patrick found the nest in my garden and we put it back in the tree, now I see quite a few metaphors in this painting but these can wait until I write my book!

If you are interested in purchasing any of the above artworks, please phone the gallery on
+61 2 4926 3899, or email us at mail@cookshill.com or complete our Art Interest Form.