Raymond Jennings - Artist

DRAWING

Born in New Zealand, December 1952, Raymond Jennings was renown for his drawing throughout his earliest school years. He began painting and exhibiting at the age of twelve. Two years later his work featured in a nationwide Society of Arts touring exhibition. Raymond also painted a 20m mural inside Kamo High School library, Whangarei. He studied at Elam School of Fine Arts at Auckland university graduating in 1975.Raymond’s illustrious career has seen him exhibit in numerous solo and group shows throughout New Zealand, in the USA and Singapore. He has produced large-scale commissions for business and private clients, for the Peninsula/Excelsior Hotel in central Singapore, and also monumental stage sets for the New Zealand Wearable Arts Shows. Raymond is a multi-disciplinary artist working primarily in painting and drawing but also in sculpture extending into architectural design; with a new development being the creation of children’s picture story books.His work carries a positive dynamic energy . . . with expert colour combinations, light and dark contrast, a strong sense of form and movement, together with an expansive multi-dimensional spatial understanding; generated by an inspiration that is both worldly and universal.

A theatrical childhood, with both parents acting and producing plays, my father also being an eccentric physics teacher, and a family friend being a prominent architect, all, introduced me to creative expression.Then, being introduced to oil painting on canvas at age eleven, with exhibitions and sales of work soon after confirmed my direction as an artist.Throughout my life a great variety of adventures including long distance cycling tours and mountain hiking, and places lived in, have developed and maintained my expansive and positive imagination and energy.Challenging projects offered to me, and consistently strong responses from galleries have all supported me in my creative endeavour.’

My paintings, drawings and sculpture are a positive expression of our world in form and colour, motion and character, radiance, and depth, with the energies of universal inspiration.

This presentation features an exploration of a new technique of mine, using varnish-wash over pencils of various kinds in conjunction with colour-washes – preserving the dynamics of the first canvas-sketches and drawings that hold the spontaneous essence of every picture IDEA free with no frills – the GREAT SIMPLICITY . . . leaving plenty of room for our mind’s imagination to experience the extra-dimensions of clarity of lines, depth of shadows, spaces of light.

Auckland Railway Station 1902. (Britomart - Queen Street) Historic architectural study -Dimensions: 1000(H) x 1500(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Historic Auckland – 1924. Queen St – Custom St. Historic architectural study -Dimensions: 1000(H) x 1080(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Standard Teas and Eadys. Historic architectural study - Queen Street and Vulcan Lane in the 1920s. Auckland Dimensions: 950(H) x 1500(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Auckland CBD 1880s. Historic architectural study.Dimensions: 970(H) x 1500(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Auckland Waterfront 1912. Downtown business and industrial area of the Auckland waterfront, towards Freeman's Bay. Dimensions: 950(H) x 1500(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Historic Auckland 1912 from Shortland St. Historic architectural study - downtown Auckland 1912. Dimensions: 1000(H) x 1500(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Historic Mt. Eden – 1905. Historic architectural study. Dimensions: 600(H) x 1500(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Historic Wellington_1885. Historic architectural study. Dimensions: 600(H) x 1300(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Historic Mt. Eden – 1907 (Woods Grocery Store). Historic architectural study. Dimensions: 650(H) x 950(W) x 50(D) mm. Medium: Pencil with varnish-wash on canvas

Next two images . . .

The TREE holds its ground with the power of its wisdom expansive, radiating its branches out into the space of the world reaching to the rain and sun . . . and exploding with seeds in cycles of regeneration – standing with patience through centuries of change of endless revolutions of our Earth turning.

Puriri Tree - 1Medium: pencil with varnish-wash on canvasDimensions: 840 x 1140 mm

Puriri Tree - 2Medium: pencil with varnish-wash on canvasDimensions: 840 x 1140 mm

1. Title of work: Puriri Tree - 1Medium: pencil with varnish-wash on canvasDimensions (width by height in mm): 840 x 1140 mmPrice: $800 2. Title of work: Puriri Tree - 2Medium: pencil with varnish-wash on canvasDimensions (width by height in mm): 840 x 1140 mmPrice: $800

These Max Gimblett two works that follow are a further development of my interest in the dynamically inventive, productive environments of artist's studios - as portraits and evidence of human creativity. STUDIOS and workshops are complete, yet ever-changing multidimensional compositions . . . with their spontaneous, purposeful, chaotic, and infinitely complex musicality of arrangements of tools, objects, furniture and architectural shapes - with accompanying plays of shadows giving a mysterious atmosphere alluding to the depths of our human mind.

Drawings on canvas give me more freedom for my own inventiveness towards other artist's studios. I transform them into my own explorations and characters of form and symbolism. Drawing, itself, reflects the working processes that every artist in their studio are involved with . . . maintaining the raw direct qualities of ideas emerging and their fullness yet to be revealed.

I will continue developing this line of work, exploring studios in New Zealand as well as the USA and Europe towards full exhibitions . . . and extending into painting as well.__________________________

This work is similar to stages of printmaking . . . with its negative white lines on dark, as well as the general idea of the 'interior' and artists drawing and painting their own studios.There is a similarity to traditional black and white works . . . and European-based sculptural - drawings, and also old architectural plan-drawings on purple paper.All this, together with my own spontaneity is a launch pad into contemporary discoveries of expression and concepts, together with the singular multidimensional/directional vision of this work - relating to concepts of physics. _________________________

CONCEPTS- Linking four separate room spaces into one interior experience.- Negative white line on dark . . . with occasional dark lines on white - giving a balanced dynamic of line complexity and space simplicity.- Scratch drawing gives a sharp clear line in contrast with the soft misty quality of ink wipe.- This drawing technique gives a spontaneous inventive result for the expression of my own imagination and character. __________________________________

TECHNIQUES- 15oz canvas stretched on wall, then primed.Black printing ink tinted with oil paint colour . . . wiped with cloth over canvas - then scratch drawing into it with wood stick and edge of wire mesh, together with some pencil and cloth-wipe lines.Finished with crystal-clear UV art varnish.

Studio-Home Interior of Max GimblettDimensions: 2720 x 985mmPencil & scratch drawing into printing ink and oil paint wiped onto free-hanging 15oz canvas

A contemplation of a creative interior . . . timeless . . . seeing four rooms - not as a logical line of continuum, but, mindfully seeing them all at once.

Studio-Home Interior of Max GimblettMedium: pencil and colour-wash on shaped and stretched canvasDimensions (width by height in mm): 2000 x 850