Buildings and Homes
Rockhampton Custom House
This is a watercolour piece on A3 Fabriano cotton paper 300gsm of Rockhampton's Custom House on Quay Street. Completed May 2023.
The building is heritage-listed and was built between 1898 and 1901 of Stanwell sandstone and has a huge copper dome on top.
It was the third Customs House in Rockhampton.
At the time of its construction, it was seen as a symbol of prosperity and progress in the then port city.
Shangri-La
This is a watercolour piece on A3 Fabriano cotton paper 300gsm of Rockhampton's Shangri-La house. It is located between Riverside Central Hotel and Skyview, however, it is earmarked for demolition to make way for a new 12-storey 30-apartment development. Artwork completed in April 2024.
The house was built in 1937 for Tom and Mary Mungall who owned an electronics business. In the 70s and 80s, Karl Hatte owned and recreated it into the iconic fine dining restaurant, known for its seafood mornay. In 1994, it sold for a recorded $242,500 and in November 2005 for $1.05 million.
Old court house
This is a watercolour piece on A3 Fabriano cotton paper 300gsm of Rockhampton's old Supreme courthouse. Completed May 2023.
It is occupied these days by Rockhampton-based barristers who represent defendants across Central Queensland and Mackay.
There have been newspaper articles about this building in the past about its history, which includes hanging people to death after they were sentenced in court, and ghost stories. Read one of those articles here: "There’s just a spookiness about the place."
Place Louis Lepine
This piece was inspired by my travels to France - a streetscape focused on the beautiful lamps that lit up Paris' streets at night.
This scene is down the street from the infamous Notre Dame Cathedral and this piece, on A3 paper in graphite, was from a photograph I took while waiting for a tour guide who took the group around Ile de la Cite in the middle of the Seine River, talking about how some of the buildings were once prisons and the history of Notre Dame.
This piece took me a few weekends to complete and I drew it freehand - no grid, no tracing. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of drawing this, working out what the details were on the lamp post as I went.
Moulin de Fourges
This is a watercolour piece capturing the Moulin de Fourges in Giverny, France.
I ate lunch at this restaurant as part of tour package to visit Monet's garden, Auvers-sur-Oise and Van Gogh's boarding house and tomb.
Needless to say, there were a lot of art inspiration scenes on that tour. It was one of the best things I did during my travels through France in 2016.
While I do not feel this is a great piece of art by myself, it is a reflection of the need to sometimes just go with the flow when you are inspired to paint and paint the way you feel you want to in that moment.
Painting this way can loosen the mind and brush strokes and allow you to feel a moment, a place, a memory, or a moment in time.
See more examples of works below of houses and buildings in watercolour and graphite.
