In the Blink of an Eye - Rick Crossland Art

Whilst trying my luck at fishing on a family holiday on Flinders Island I caught sight of the late afternoon light on the waves. It was breath-taking. I dropped the rod and ran to the car to grab my easel and painting gear to record the image before the light changed. I had to work fast as the sun dropped behind the dunes at the back of the beach. ‘In the Blink of an Eye’ the scene had changed but luckily, I had caught an impression, a memory, a feeling of that particular time and place.

This exhibition is a collection of plein air work done over the last year at various places, coastal, rural and urban in Tasmania, including Flinders Island. Despite the many challenges of plein air painting – fickle weather, tides that can’t be controlled, light that is always changing and curious passers-by, I prefer to paint in front of my subject. All the answers are there in front of you, you see people and stuff you just can’t invent. It’s always about the effects of light. I must work fast to capture the image before the conditions change and for that reason, most of my paintings in the exhibition will be small. However, a few are slightly larger ones that required repeat visits to the same location, when the conditions were similar.

The subjects are random, images that suddenly caught my eye, that I found beautiful, transformed by the light and atmosphere at that time. I want to convey to the viewer the real colours, mood and feeling of the place or object. The way I paint is very challenging. However, I love it and get tremendous joy when others connect with my paintings and ‘see’.