Wallace Art Awards Finals

I am pleased to announce that one of my recent paintings, part of the multi-storey car park series, has been selected to be part of the finals of the Awards set up by the James Wallace Arts Trust. The exhibition of finalists is at The Pah Homestead and runs from 7th September to the 3rd October.
The Wallace Art Awards have been running for 19 years and are the largest art awards of their kind in New Zealand.

Auckland Grammar School Fundraiser

The 2010 school fundraising exhibition will be happening 3rd - 5th September 2010.
The catalogue is now online at the school website. Follow the link to their homepage above.

Paint, process and materials

Here's some information about my process and materials. I'm using the Schminke Norma range of oil paints almost exclusively at the moment and have been for about three years. Schminke is a German company with a great reputation and is praised by professional artists around the world.


I stretch my own linen canvases. I find the surface texture, durability and strength of linen to be far better than cotton canvas. They are sized with rabbit skin glue size and primed with Schminke primer, which is like a half chalk ground. Four coats of primer gives a lovely surface on which to paint. It has just the right balance of absorbency and luminosity.

This is a linen canvas which has just been stretched on a pine stretcher and then sized with rabbit skin glue. The glue size tightens the linen onto the frame by shortening it's fibres. It is a traditional size for painting on canvas or board and prevents any linseed oil in the paint from getting into contact with the linen fibres. Linseed oil over time would gradually rot the linen if there was no barrier between them.

After sizing, I then prime the linen with four coats of specialist primer. This gives a luminous white ground. Oil paints have transparency which varies depending on the pigment used each colour. So in light areas of painting the luminosity of the ground shows through the paint layers to some extent. In the photo below the weave of the linen can be seen. I like the unevenness and slight irregularity of linen compared to cotton canvas.



Here is the back of a large linen stretched on a hand made cedar frame. Cedar is an excellent choice of wood for large paintings as it is very light and very stable, so it's warping is minimal. It also has a lovely smell.

Studio set up

My studio is fully functioning now although there is still some junk to clear out. The new bench I built has become a large painting trolley though rather than a work bench, and I'm using the pedestal as a work bench. Not as I intended but it is more practical not to have to clear everything off the work bench to stretch canvases because I am running both stretching and painting at the same time.

The new website is now live.
Go to http://matthewcarter.co.nz
to view paintings and photo composites.

New website

My new website is being launched this month. It is being designed by Blue Perez at Create Folios. On the site will be paintings and photo composites running on a light box using flash. There will also be background info, biography and contact details.

The url for the site is at
matthewcarter.co.nz

Anthony Harper Awards

I've entered the painting 'urban rift' for the 2010 Anthony Harper awards, held in Christchurch at the COCA gallery. It has been accepted for the exhibition which will open on Tuesday 25th May and runs until 4th July.

'urban rift' is composited from some of the buildings around Auckland city, some from the buildings in Fort Street again.

Other news is that a new website is being built and once up and running will be at
http://matthewcarter.co.nz

Studio reorganise

After moving back from using the AUT studios, my studio at home was a complete mess with stuff all over the floor and covering every surface, so to reorganise it I have built a bench based on one at AUT 3D workshop. It is the pink (treated) timber left over from building a room a couple of years ago.


Below is the bench finished apart from a coat of paint. I also built some shelves and a tool board on the wall behind it which will save me from bending down to the floor all the time. The bench I can use for making, stretching and preparing canvases and boards, and also to hold painting materials during painting.

New painting

I'm working on a painting this week in the studio. It is a view of Newmarket looking from above the Skycity cinema entrance. What interests me here is the orientation of the self to that being viewed and how that orientation can be challenged.
Go to http://matthewcarter.co.nz for the final painting.

Eden Arts gala

'Artists in Eden' is the Eden Arts Trust gala event of the year. It is an open air exhibition of artists at work. This year, 2010, it was held on 20th March at Essex reserve in Mount Eden. The works are auctioned at the end of the day to provide funds for community initiatives.

Here is my finished work. It is oil on gessoed board.