ARTISTIC JOURNEY
2009 I retired from regular employment & re-invented myself as an artist.
REX WOODMORE AUSTRALIAN FINE ART
THROUGH A FOREST OF TREE PAINTINGS
(Gum trees, Boab trees, Grass trees & Jacaranda trees in particular)
I FIND MY ARTISTIC PATH
#D'arcyDoyle is not the only one that likes Jacarandas in his paintings :-)
Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime.
Today his work is worth $millions. Buy while the artist is alive.
(Rex Woodmore was born 1945 and has sold over one hundred paintings).
In October 2009, when I retired from the horticulture and re-vegetation industries,
I surprised my wife Lyn by saying: “I am going to re-invent myself as an artist!” I could never imagine what I would achieve. Email Rex Woodmore: [email protected] |
I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED TREES
My first memory was in Egypt, when I was looking through the railings of a balcony at a palm tree in a court yard of a ‘safe house’ the US military found for us.
At about ten yrs old here in Western Australia, I lived on an orchard in Jarrahdale, with orange, apple, plum, peach, apricot, pear, fig, cherry & quince trees. We were in the midst of the Forest surrounded by towering Jarrah trees with an under-story of Acacia and Banksia trees. |
Beneath that, with hardly an exotic weed to be seen, there was a miniature jungle of native flowers, creepers & ferns.
My only playmates were my Dalmatian dogs who, sadly, died after eating a poisoned (10/80) rabbit. I remember the dogs (Star & her mother Judy the second) sometimes in my paintings as I have in 'Forest Freedom'
I HAVE GROWN THOUSANDS OF TREES
I must have grown a 1,000 trees for every tree I felled.
So with my passion for, and intimate knowledge of, trees and a name like WOODmore, trees seemed a logical choice of subject for my paintings.
My only ‘brush’ with art before that, was when I was ten years old, pencil sketching orchids in the forest that surrounded our home in Jarrahdale.
As an adult when I worked for a year at the Argyle Diamond mine in Western Australia, I was captivated by the beauty of the blue hills, Boab trees & termite mounds that grew from the rich soils surrounding the mine & accommodation village, where I was a supervisor and I tried my hand at capturing the magnificent scenery, with pastels on paper.
My only ‘brush’ with art before that, was when I was ten years old, pencil sketching orchids in the forest that surrounded our home in Jarrahdale.
As an adult when I worked for a year at the Argyle Diamond mine in Western Australia, I was captivated by the beauty of the blue hills, Boab trees & termite mounds that grew from the rich soils surrounding the mine & accommodation village, where I was a supervisor and I tried my hand at capturing the magnificent scenery, with pastels on paper.
Much of my employment had involved trees, including as a team leader for the Mandurah Rail Link Grass tree (Xanthorrhoea species) project removing and transplanting 3,000 grass trees and 1,500 Zamia palms (Macrozamia reidlii). This project resulted in an amazing 90% success rate & made a fortune for the company (GHEMS).
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"Thank you to all the people taking an interest in my art and my writings.
Thanks also to my many clients with my paintings around the world".
Thanks also to my many clients with my paintings around the world".
JULY 11TH 2018 WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT?
'Fifties Ford' Who would have thought that my simple painting of an old Ford truck would be appreciated by an art group based in Budapest, Hungary?
IMPORTANT WORLD ARTISTS 9th June 2017
Not really a big deal, but....
I was the kid who never got a certificate at the school assembly. But now, at last, at over 70 years old, I know how encouraging it can be to have ones efforts rewarded :-)
472 artists (including me) took part in a recent worldwide contest run by Artavita, Santa Barbara, California, USA. The result for me was that I am referenced as a Sponsored Artist on the index page of "Important World Artists" Volume 2 The judges said of our artwork “...truly outstanding quality..” Thanks Artivita! |
MAGAZINE ARTICLE 27th March 2017
Thanks to Woodlands Publishing.
I was given 8 pages in Artist’s Palette (An Australian magazine) 27th March 2017. I receive so many offers from people wanting thousands of dollars for a half page promotion, that it was a pleasant surprise to be approached by genuine people from a genuine publishing company wanting my art, rather than my money. |
"YOU HAVE A GIFT" Or so they say!
When complimenting an artist people often say
"You have a gift!" If one is given a gift, then logic dictates there must be a 'gift giver' I recognise my 'gift giver' as the Creator of the Universe I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from which comes my help. Psalm 121:1 |
MY FIRST PAINTING 'Damsel Day'
I completed my first painting 'Damsel Day' in late 2008.
Self taught, I used House paint, Builder’s adhesive and Marking pens on stretched canvas. I still have the ‘painting’ which was inspired partly by Pro Hart’s Dragon Fly paintings and also a photo of a Damsel fly by my daughter Larena, whose photos can be seen at: http://www.australiancritters.com/ |
PAINTINGS FROM MEMORIES OF ALMOST DROWNING
The treasure of a 1656 shipwreck almost cost me my life!
JACARANDA PAINTINGS
My Jacaranda Tree Paintings have proven to be very popular.
I am best known for my family friendly paintings of trees and Jacaranda trees in particular. Many people here in Australia & overseas admire my art displayed proudly on their walls. My Jacaranda paintings are featured by UTS University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in a thesis on Jacaranda trees by Anne-Therese King. |
MY LARGEST PAINTING
At Left: Rex Woodmore with largest painting to date.4ftx4ft (121.92 x 121.92cm) ''Jugan Jacaranda'' Painted for a motivational speaker in California. |
THE FIRST PAINTING I SOLD
In early 2010, a nephew admired my second painting ‘Crow Catcher’ (which is my first painting of a tree)
I wanted to give it to him but I also needed to sell a painting. So I suggested he could have it for two dollars. He agreed but as he didn't have any money with him, I lent him a $2 coin which he handed back to me in payment. |
‘Great!' Now I could honestly say I had sold a painting.
(My nephew needs reminding that it is some years since I lent him the two bucks! Perhaps I will get it back when he sells the painting for $thousands)
(My nephew needs reminding that it is some years since I lent him the two bucks! Perhaps I will get it back when he sells the painting for $thousands)
I had images on about 50 online galleries and each was getting about 50 hits per week (2500 hits a week - 130,000 hits per annum around the world!) This showed that some people were interested in my work.
I have moved away from most online galleries & concentrate on promoting my work through my own websites and through Australia's largest art market BlueThumb.
I have moved away from most online galleries & concentrate on promoting my work through my own websites and through Australia's largest art market BlueThumb.
OFF TO A FLYING START
ARTISTIC DROUGHT or DELUGE
My production of artworks is ‘’drought or deluge” I tend to paint for about three months, then spend three months on my websites & on other interests. I was coming to the end of an artistic ‘drought’ when I was contacted by the prestigious Italian graphics company Fiordo. They were contracted to Mondadori (Italy’s largest book publisher & the third largest publisher of consumer magazines in France). They needed a painting of a Jacaranda tree for the cover of a book and my work on the Internet had been noticed. It was very encouraging to know that out of billions of images on the Internet, they liked my paintings.
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I DISCOVER THE LAND OF EROMDOOW
My wife Lyn & I often imagine the rural, bush setting we would like to reside in. We dislike living in suburbia but current circumstances keep us here. Eromdoow is the sort of place I imagine I would like to live in.
I had completed a painting of what I imagined would be the entry to my ideal rural property (my ‘dreamland’ if you like) and the name ‘Woodmore Estate’ kept coming to mind. But in the titles of my paintings I like to apply alliteration (The first & second word start with the same letter) and with this painting I struggled to come up with a suitable name. After much ‘reflection’ (there is your clue!) in place of ‘Woodmore Estate’ settled on ‘Eromdoow Estate’ (EROMDOOW-WOODMORE) ‘’Get it?” |
From then on many of my works have depicted scenes of ‘Eromdoow’ in which I allow myself to ignore botanical correctness. In my imaginary, idealistic land of Eromdoow, everything lives in perfect harmony. In this tranquil, beautifully balanced, land of biodiversity, my paintings are based on Australian scenes, but if I thought the scene lent itself to the inclusion of an exotic species of fauna or flora, I could find a place for it.
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ANIMAL, BIRD and REPTILE PAINTINGS
Rex Woodmore
Most of my Flora & Fauna , Landscape paintings, are realistic - Kangaroos, Goats, Camels, Dogs, Dingos, Possums and all sorts of birds - Cockatoos, Crows, Galahs, Parrots, Emus, Ducks, Swans, Egrets, Kookaburras, Parakeets, Magpies, Wrens and then there are the reptiles such as Lizards & Crocodiles. |
MARINE & COASTAL PAINTINGS
Seascape paintings and Underwater scenes.
I hope I have developed a degree of skill for realism in my landscapes but also in my images of underwater scenes inspired by my scuba diver days -marine creatures, (Coral, fish, sharks – white pointer, great whites, hammerheads, whale sharks) and shipwrecks. |
MY PAINTING 'DRAGON DROWNING'
Featured in Hollandfocus July-August 2015 Published on Jun 30, 2015 With a lot about my diving on the shipwreck and treasure of the 1656 Gilt Dragon. Hollandfocus READ MORE OF MY GILT DRAGON STORY
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JACARANDA TREE PAINTINGS
The greatly admired Jacaranda is also known as Blue Jacaranda, Black Poui, or as the fern tree (Jacaranda mimosifolia or an older name was Jacaranda acutifolia)
In Australian art history, there are several highly regarded Jacaranda Paintings by famous artists, such as D'arcy Doyle. Images of Jacaranda trees are often drawn or painted with almost lime green fern like leaves, with their blossom in dark or light shades of lilac, blue, purple and mauve and even white. |
My Jacaranda tree paintings have proven to be very popular and sought after by people around the world
GUMTREE PAINTINGS
Gum Trees or ‘’Gumtrees’’ Eucalyptus & Corymbia species) are always a favourite in my artworks, as they were in the great works of famous artists like Albert Namatjira (One of Australia's great artists and perhaps the best known Aboriginal painter) and Wilhelm Ernst Hans Franz Heysen who produced beautiful paintings of trees including his well-known watercolour, Guardian of Brachina Gorge, which was finished in 1937 from several drawings made in the early 1930s.
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GRASS TREE PAINTINGS
The Australian Grass tree (Xanthorrhoea species) can be seen in the landscape scenes of many of my works. The Xanthorrhoea pressii was at one time called the black boy tree and the Xanthorrhoea kingii was the black gin tree, many older people will remember them simply by the now politically incorrect name of ‘blackboys’. I refer to them as Grass trees.
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BOAB TREE PAINTINGS
The Boab is similar to the African Baobab trees.
Both the Australian Boab and African Baobab trees are Adansonia species.
The Boab tree, that wonderful, weird, much loved and admired wonderful ‘’upside down tree’’ a wonderful source of bush food (bush tucker) from the Kimberley of Western Australia & some other parts of Australia. I have painted many of these unique trees that lend themselves so well to an individual’s personal artistic interpretation. |
The common name "boab" is a shortened form of the generic "baobab". Although boab is the most widely recognised common name, Adansonia gregorii has a number of other common names. In the late 1850s the name Australian baobab was common & is probably the origin of boab. Other names include: bottle tree, dead rat tree, gouty stem tree, monkey bread tree, cream of tartar tree, gourd-gourd tree, sour gourd, gadawon.
MULBERRY TREE PAINTINGS
‘The Mulberry Tree’ is the title used for a famous oil painting by Vincent van Gogh. It was completed in Saint-Rémy in October, 1889. It is currently located at Norton Simon Museum. Pasadena, CA.
My ‘Mother Mulberry’ is a popular painting with an ‘Old World Charm’ (So I am told!) |
SLIDE SHOW OF SOME OF MY ARTWORKS
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NOTE: YOUR PURCHASE HELPS PROVIDE WATER to DESPERATE PEOPLE
A percentage of the proceeds from my art sales assists in providing Drinking water, Medical Services and Education to help some of the most desperate people in Africa.
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NOTE: YOUR PURCHASE HELPS PROVIDE WATER to DESPERATE PEOPLE
A percentage of the proceeds from my art sales assists in providing Drinking water, Medical Services and Education to help some of the most desperate people in Africa.
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