“Miena, Tasmania”, 2025

James Brown

“Miena, Tasmania”, 2025

Oil on wood panel

Size: 50 x 39.8 cm

Inspired by a 2022 photograph of scrubland on the outskirts of Miena, Tasmania, near the southern end of Great Lake in the Central Highlands, I created this painting. The landscape's inherent beauty caught my attention, particularly the interplay of muted grey tones punctuated by vibrant tufts of green grass and exposed ochre earth.  The slender gum trees, their bark shedding and branches reaching elegantly skyward, also held a strong visual appeal.  These spindly forms, with their sinuous lines, resonated with the organic flow and rhythm I sought to capture.

“Magpie Geese in a Grove of Mangoes, Townsville”, 2023

James Brown

“Magpie Geese in a Grove of Mangoes, Townsville”, 2023

Oil on wood panel

Size: 40.6 x 50.9 cm

On my morning walk with Isabelle, we often follow a path through a shaded grove of mango trees, a haven for local wildlife. Wallabies bound through the undergrowth, magpie geese bob their heads inquisitively, and the ubiquitous Australian white ibis, or "bin chickens" as we call them, slowly plod through the leaf litter. The cool, dappled light filtering through the canopy, combined with the ankle-deep layer of fallen twigs and leaves, transforms the walk into a delightful game of discovery. There's always something new to see.

This painting captures the essence of that moment.  Filtered sunlight makes the carpet of fallen leaves glow and the colour contrasts with the magpie geese with their heads tilting and bobbing as they forage for mangoes. Their world, contained within the shadowed grove, feels both serene and intensely alive.

“Castle Hill in Early Light”, 2016

James Brown

“Castle Hill in Early Light”, 2016

Oil with pastel canvas

Size: 30 x 40 cm

My paintings of Castle Hill, the iconic rock formation at the heart of Townsville, Australia, reflect my ongoing engagement with this place. The magnificent rock faces, beautifully catching the light, have been a recurring subject. This small work, like many others in my series, has undergone years of refinement. Though inscribed with the date 2016, I've continually revisited and adjusted it, addressing areas where I felt the composition could be improved. A recent revision involved subtly reducing the intensity of the sky's blue, which I'd previously felt competed with, rather than complemented, the rich colours of the rock face.

“Angkor Wat”, 2016

James Brown

“Angkor Wat”, 2016

Oil on canvas

Size: 60 x 60 cm

This painting captures the ethereal beauty of a sunset over Angkor Wat. Based on a photograph I took from that unforgettable moment, it evokes the strong impression of the temple complex, silhouetted against the fiery sky, seemingly floating on the moat's reflective surface. The pointed tops of the temples, outlined against the fading light, create a sense of a distant mountain range, further emphasising the magical and almost dreamlike quality of the scene. My goal was to convey the fleeting, almost ephemeral nature of the moment, as if the entire vista were poised on the brink of disappearing.

“Horizon 2”, 1977

James Brown

“Horizon 2”, 1977

Acrylic on cartridge paper backed on canvas

Size: 51.4 x 69.2 cm

At the time I made this painting in 1977, I was grappling with the dominant trends in art like Abstract Minimalism, Colour Field Painting, and Performance Art. My interest in landscape painting felt dated and conceptually thin, overshadowed by these movements that seemed to have eclipsed the things I valued most: the thrill of expressing a pictorial subject through the expressive power of brushstrokes and colour.

My solution, as demonstrated in this painting, was a reductive approach to landscape. I simplified the scene down to a horizon line, focusing on a schematic representation of a headland, emphasizing the emotional impact of the landscape's form and light.