Milk Bottle and Eggs

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I am at at last old enough to have painted objects that are now considered nostalgic antiques, painted without a trace of irony or kitsch!

This was one of the first paintings I painted soon after I immigrated to New Zealand with my family in 1974. Milk was delivered in glass bottles and cost 4 cents a bottle!

This was also the first painting I had exhibited at a public art gallery at New Plymouths Govett Brewster Art Gallery. I thought I had hit the big time! Ha ha! This was a time when the art world in NZ was very different to how it is today. Although my painting is today much better and more sophisticated, I now wouldn't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting a painting in the Govett Brewster's hallowed halls.

This was one of those exercises in tone I was conducting at the time. White objects on a white background.

The yellowing you can see on the left side is the result of the painting being kept in the dark for many years. I simply follow Rubens advice to his patrons and stand the painting in direct sunlight for a few days. The yellowing is caused by the linseed oil darkening and it is bleached again with exposure to sunlight. Since taking this photo that is exactly what has happened.

Now I can hide it away again for another forty years. But I wont be around to be bothered then.

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