Still Water
14th April 2023
This is plein air painter Jack Braudis’ third solo exhibition exploring the beauty of the hills and waterways of the Huon. His bravura colour and brisk painterly brushwork is perfectly suited to the picturesque landscape of the verdant valley to Hobart’s south.
If you travel down the Huon highway and then go off the track a little to Ranelagh and Port Huon you may be lucky enough to meet Jack, set up in a paddock or on the verge, chasing the light like all plein air painters. The splendid clouds move fast and shadows change just as they are roughed out in lovely colour on the timber ground. Sometimes the day is shortened by rain or high winds that can blow an easel away so the artist must commit it all to memory and finish in the studio.
Plein air painting has been with us since the paint tube was developed in the 1800s, allowing the French Barbizon School to go into the forests, ultimately refined by the Impressionists. In the US the Rockport School on the coast near Boston documented the waterways and maritime life of the day. Jack belongs to this later tradition and we are fortunate to have him turn his artistic gaze on the unique landscape of Southern Tasmania.
