About
Earl
Earl was born in Wanganui,
New Zealand. At High School,
at the age of 13, he was fortunate to be invited into a special art course by art teacher Ted Lewis who was a graduate of the Royal College of Art, London. Ted’s strong design
and draughtsmanship skills were a great help to Earl in forming a strong base from which to develop.
Leaving school he worked in the advertising department of a large national, department-retail store.
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Moving to the capital city Wellington, Earl joined one of New Zealand’s largest and foremost advertising agencies. Experience widened by changing agencies over a period of time. In the 1960s Earl went to Sydney to gain further valuable experience in advertising and corporate visual communication. At this stage he was specialising as a designer in the creative aspect of visual communication.
A challenge to open Wellington’s first graphic design consultancy saw a return to New Zealand. The largest of all commissions Earl received was to design the logo/symbol and related corporate elements for the New Zealand Post Office. This was one of the largest corporate identity programs undertaken nationally. His work appeared in a book featuring work of recognised NZ designer/artists from the 1940s - 1970s.
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A desire to return to Australia brought about a move in 1978, where he continued his graphic design career until retirement.
His favoured medium is
watercolours with all its
challenges. (It is a most
challenging medium, one
can be exhilarated … or
exasperated!) Earl’s aim
is not to copy the subject
but to paint a recognisable
impression of it …
to simplify and interpret it
with swift, confident, lively,
calligraphic brush marks.
To him the vitality of a
painting is more important
than total accuracy.
He has conducted many workshops, and articles of his work have appeared in “Australian Artist” magazines.
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The paintings that you see on the Gallery pages are just a small selection of work completed by Earl. By clicking an image you can scroll over a magnified view.
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