© 2008 Omand Original
Webpage last updated 13.08.10
Omand Original came about as a result of my mid-life crisis.
As a self-taught artist, I had been a "hobby" painter for many years before starting Omand Original. There came a moment in time when, at forty, in a dead-end job and having just attended a school reunion where everyone else was doing (or said they were doing) great things that I decided enough was enough and, if I didn't follow my dream now, I would never do it. Now I love my life and love my work which, although there are challenging days, gives me a reason to get up in the morning.
I paint in acrylics and enjoy using canvases of different shapes and sizes to add an extra dimension to my work. In art, I am greatly influenced by the work of the Colourist movement, especially J D Fergusson. Indeed I can often be found just standing in the Fergusson Gallery in Perth looking at my favourite work "Danu, Mother of the Gods". Although my work is not too similar in composition, being more "pop art" in its study of single objects, colour (and indeed sometimes the restriction of colour) is a very important part of my paintings. I take my subjects from the world around me and am particularly influenced by a home life which was tied to the countryside and the seashore. I am also now experimenting with more "contemporary" work, letting colour do the work in a few abstract pieces and I have recently started to dabble with textures and different media in my art.
As well as my painting, which can be quite a solitary task (with only the cats to keep me company), I enjoy the colourful creative chaos that is craft fairs and love exhibiting my work there and spending the day talking to all sorts of people about all sorts of arts and crafts. For my craft work, I take images from my paintings and design and produce ranges of greetings cards, stationery and bookmarks, all of which can also be found in the online catalogue. So don't feel you are missing out just because you can't get to a craft fair.
I hope you enjoy my work and I would love to hear from you, either through Facebook, the contact form or even face-to-face at the next craft fair!
