This is my latest personal piece Hitchhiker, it’s really a self portrait as I Australia is pretty much a big island & most of the population stays close to the water, the interior is a desert that has its own beauty, but a harder life than the flourishing rainforests & rolling green hills. I have lived near the ocean & spent much time in its waters all my life. Going to the beach where my grandparents had a bathing box (little beach shack), & on my grandfathers boat we’re early memories. He made a little ledge that I could stand on & steer the boat, I would have been all of 5 yrs old & it was a 35 foot cruiser… I remember feeling so special. We would catch a heap of fish & my Dad & Papa (granddad) would clean the fish on our way in, stopping at the farewell boy to feed the local seal pack. It was a most incredible life, we were very blessed. We would spend most of our summer & spring there, & go fishing throughout the year. I then started waterskiing, sailboarding & swimming was very prominent in my school years. I joined the Lifesaving club at 12 & was a Life Guard by 13… I also started sailing in my teen years. The eco system & life forms below the sea are diverse, it’s like another planet down there…. filled with so much beauty & so needs to be preserved.

As I was painting this piece it sort of morphed into myself, looking back at old photos I can see the resemblance although it wasn’t intentional. This is also a special piece as it’s much more stylistic than my previous work, I was relearning everything & I’m of the opinion learning real anatomy etc is so important, so once you have gained the fundamental skills, you can then push the anatomy, play with light & go in any direction style wise. It was a necessity to learn how to draw people, I didn’t before 2 years ago….I thought I couldn’t, but I wanted to start working as an illustrator. I had to bite the bullet & learn…… of course now it’s all I want to draw, whether a portrait commission or a fantasy humanoid….. I just can’t get enough of drawing the human form.

I hope you enjoy this piece, I’m embarking on a new venture into collectable digital art, this is probably going to be the first piece I will be offering for sale. More about this very soon…..

Be kind & take care of each other, be safe – Lion