Chris Osborne Art 
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I was asked if I could teach a workshop to run alongside my exhibition at Gallery 107 Dalby, and since this is something I enjoy, of course I said yes.
I completed the Chris Osborne Art Gallery, so let me show you the progress of renovating an old train carriage from the coach drivers room to an art gallery.
For my latest exhibition I decided to paint ten mini artwork to display alongside my larger artworks. This year I also included watercolour & ink paintings and some black ink sketches.
The other aspect of painting old trucks and tractors is the blokes that visiting my gallery with their significant others are now more engaging than when I only a collection of animals and landscapes to view.
Now I have discovered watercolour & Ink and the use of exaggerated colour, I have managed to bring a dull photo to life. Not only in colour but also an expression of movement as well.
Now I always try to make things look a little natural so I went down to our local dam and photographed a few shots near the edge of the water.
This tractor caught my attention because of the two wheel configuration at the front, as I had never seen this before. I’m sure It’s probably quite common but I didn’t grow up around farm machinery.
The Story Behind the Urban Sketching When I went to visit my friends at Toowoomba we took a side trip to Highfields Pioneer Village. I was extremely interested in their fire engine museum because I’m thinking of creating a transport or fire related exhibition in the future. I came across this wonderful little slab cottage with so many hanging baskets which once painted looked like hanging pumpkins. Just outside was a very… Read More
I crouched down to include space under the house making the dry grass look more menacing and overgrown.
Tractors, crawlers, trucks and wagons our neighbour has so much to sketch, I feel I could be here years just sketching his vast collection of vehicles.
The neighbour has a stunning collection of cars and the more junk and disorder the better for me as an artist to sketch.
Another tractor from the neighbours property, I’m thinking he may have customised this one and made it a real work horse.
I was lucky enough to get shown inside our neighbours shed, which had some really wonderful vehicles, this was a sketchers dream.
I took a few steps back and the dragonfly came into focus and the blurry background was just outstanding, I knew this would make a stunning painting.
Then one day I came across a pair of spotted pardalote’s building a nest and this definitely got me hooked on bird photography.
I prefer to paint old cars that are being restored as they seem to have more character than a finished product looking all shiny and new.
One afternoon I saw a flatbed truck passing by Possum Park with tractors loaded on it and couldn’t believe a missed sketching opportunity.
When I spent two weeks in Lightning Ridge I came walked passed this old cottage most days and absolutely loved it.
This tractor had more box shapes than the other tractors so it was much easier to sketch using large rectangles.
After I created a set of greeting cards for the Pioneer Park at Dalby I delivered them to their gift shop and couldn’t resist taking some more photos of the tractors.
Chris Osborne Art 