Hamish Macdonald
ABOUT
We got to know of Hamish's work from a painting he did of David Burton and Jane McKee's bridal table back in 2000. This painting appears on the label of our Barossa Shiraz, "The Protagonist."
Hamish subsequently painted the "Usual Suspects" from a photo of me and several of our friends - so named because this is how Trish generally refers to them. We asked Hamish to make sure there was some female presence in the actual painting, so being the gracious bloke that he his, he made me into a girl. I've yet to thank him properly for that. From left to right, Ruan Perara, JSH, Mike Black, David Burton, Sandy Wilkinson, Johnny McCoy, Malcolm Booth and Ben Hyde.
Hamish lives in the South East of South Australia and more of his work can be found via the attached link.
BIOGRAPHY:
I was born in Millicent in 1970, to Sally and Byron Macdonald. With my sisters, Amanda and Natasha, and Lachlan my brother I grew up on our sheep and cattle grazing station just south of Lucindale, which I still call home. Here is where I set up my studio in 1997.
I was none the wiser, so after performing in an Unley youth production, “Teen Sex Scandal” in Sydney, as part of the ‘Gay and Lesbian Mardigras’ season, I left for ‘overseas’, for three and a half years. My little sister, Amanda is partly to blame that I picked up a pen to draw and paint for most of my time away, as she gave me a journal and a sketchbook.
The following years I worked the summers at a camp just out of New York. Spending the time in between travelling: down the west coast of the States via Colorado and Aspen, on a trip from Kenya to South Africa, working for a billiard company in Wiltshire/England, and doing quite a few trips to and around Europe. The trip through Africa with my sister Tash and a long time friend Katie, sticks out in my memory as very important and my first seriously painting orientated journey.
Finally a motorbike took me from New York to San Francisco where I boarded a plane to return home for Christmas 1996. I started living on the farm and basically got straight back into a normal life. I worked for a builder and for a few vineyards and farms in the area. My parents offered me one of the old buildings on our farm, the single mans quarters, which I turned into my studio, ‘LOCOSTUDIO’.
In 1999 my parents and I decided that it might be time for me to get involved in the Family business – the farm - in 2001 I took on the management here. I got married in 2002 and have been leading this life since, working on new farming strategies and trying to lead our business into the modern world of efficiency - being less labour intensive and more environmental friendly and sustainable.
I burnt myself badly in the holidays after finishing primary school at Lucindale, later that year after a long period in hospital I went on to St Peters College, an all boys boarding school in Adelaide and matriculated from there in 1987. Following on, I went straight to uni, where after 5 years of study and a lot of social and stage time, I graduated with a BA of Architectural Studies from ‘The University of Adelaide’.
BUT of course apart from ‘my job’ I have kept on painting, here on the farm, in my studio, mostly at nights – the quiet time, that gives me peace. Returning home and opening the studio here on the farm has given me the unique opportunity, combining my love for painting with my attachment to the land and the work I grew up with. I started painting on much larger scale and messed around with a new mediums, Enamel – oil based – paint, which I have stuck to from then on.
I have become involved with numerous Art Projects in the South East and Adelaide, have travelled overseas with exhibitions and have found permanent exposure in a few spaces, …and friends that without I might have never ended up being where I am. I am still an artist living in harmony with the thought that life is not just a painting but all the experience and challenges that go into it. At this point I would like to take the opportunity to thank: Mark de Nys, Merylin Cox, Guy Detot, Gray Hawk, Peter Rymill, Peter & Marg Muller, Mark Muller, Andrew McDowell, Steve Cooper, Paul & Mahalia Layzell, my family and friends and of course Christa, mostly for their encouragement of action, thought and passion throughout the years. It is hard to explain how important it is to know that there are people out there who will raise their hands up hight to help you keep up something not everybody does and CAN appreciate.
Additional Information
Website - http://www.locostudio.com.au
Featured on the wine: The Protagonist and the Usual Suspects
Melissa Egan
ABOUT
Melissa Egan is Brisbane based and one of our favourite artists.
We came upon her artwork when we were trying to find a suitable piece for our Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc label. Whilst running out of ideas at our parents place, I looked up from their dining room table and it was staring me in the face the whole time.
Look up Melissa's web site via the attached link to discover more of her fantastic art. JH
THE ART:
Creating paintings is part of Melissa Egan’s everyday life and many of her subjects are drawn form childhood memories, marriage and motherhood. Her family, friends and the day to day tasks she performs provide a plateau on which she builds her works. Melissa views herself more as a creator than as an artist.
Melissa began painting as a child and for her, becoming a successful artist is the realisation of a life-long passion. Balance and harmony prevail in Melissa’s work. “If I can achieve an overall balance in my paintings then other components have usually been achieved in a spontaneous and unconscious manner.”
Melissa’s lyrical, figurative works are set in the Australian landscape, which is the typical backdrop for her whimsical and naive genre. She uses the landscape as a “stage” for her “actors”. As she states: “while figures predominate in the majority of the work it is their interconnectedness with their environment that lends plausibility to their existence. To me, the landscape, the figures and animals interrelate with one another to be of equal importance.”
The actors are vital to the composition of each individual work providing a visual stimulus for the viewer. They are not merely a decorative tool. They are symbolic. The birds for example, work as Australian icons and provide movement and perspective. The figures and animals as well as the birds interact with one another and emulate events or behaviour that may be pertinent to the viewer.
Melissa emphasises that the actors in her picture be appreciated just for what they are. It is very much up to the viewer to place upon her paintings their personal interpretation. A barren landscape devoid of foliage may be interpreted as man’s ongoing destruction of his environment, or appreciated just for its harsh and barren beauty.
Irrespective of whatever interpretation we see in Melissa’s work, it would be impossible not to recognise the unique, lyrical, beauty that exists in her talented brush stroke.
Additional Information
Website - http://www.artegan.com.au
Featured on the wine: Hidden Garden Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc & Scissor Hands Clare Valley Riesling
Art Selection
ABOUT
If you are an artist, or have a friend who is an artist who would like to showcase their art with our wines, then please contact us.
Additional Information
Website - www.heskethwinecompany.com.au
Featured on the wine:
Georgina Hart
ABOUT
All too often we find that the expression 'six degrees of separation' exaggerates how far apart we all are in this small world. I often find one degree is more appropriate - particularly in the wine world and even more so if you're from Adelaide. When we discovered Georgina's art work, we also found a family friend from our childhood whose married name prevented instant recognition. Her art work will appear on our soon to be released Grüner Veltliner from Kremstal in Austria as well as our Sparkling when we get around to it. Please look up her web site to discover more of her work. JH THE ART: Happiness in life is someone to love, something to hope for and sometimes to dream. This is where Georgina Hart draws much of her inspiration, which she is keen to convey to her audience. Born and raised in Adelaide, Georgina studied fine and commercial art. From a very early age she has been drawing and making things. Her entire spare time at school was spent in the art room creating. Georgina feels that her earliest lesson from art school days was to “paint and draw what you feel” and this is evident in her highly distinctive and individual style. She returned to art after a fulltime position in catering at Ansett. Following their demise in 2001, her husband gave her a paint brush, five tubes of acrylic paint and encouraged her to return to art class to pursue a life long passion of becoming an artist. Georgina describes her style as ever evolving and seeks to express in her paintings the joys of love, friendship and happiness with compositions celebrating the simple things in life. Each painting tells it’s own story and is often experiences that have touched her life. Each one is painted with a spontaneous passionate exaggeration and is a feast of visual stimulation and riotous fun capitulating the viewer into the world within. Her signature pieces are works of strong images and rhythmic designs set against a backdrop of rich colour. Her paintings possess a dream-like quality and are a sensual feast of colour and charmingly expressionistic. The immense appeal of Georgina’s visual narratives resides in her unique whimsical style. “My passion for life, joy of motherhood and my loving family are a constant source of inspiration which I hope I convey through a sense of tenderness and emotion in my works. My goal as an artist is to bring these qualities together into one experience for the viewer.”
Additional Information
Website - www.georginaart.com
Featured on the wine: Beautiful Stranger Grüner Veltliner & The Proposition Sparkling
Ralph Hobbs
ABOUT
Ralph Hobbs is a very talented artist and good friend. We'll post a formal bio as soon as he gets his web site up and running.
The artwork for the Thirsty Dog was commissioned over red wine and cigars during the easter long weekend in 2008.
Additional Information
Website - www.hobbsfineart.com.au
Featured on the wine: Thirsty Dog Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon
