Dave Ramsland

My name is Dave Ramsland and I was born in Australia in the 1950s. I have had a passion for painting since my early childhood, having studied art at school until my final year at High School under the well-known artist Bela Ivanyi. It was Bela Ivanyi who inspired me to connect with my artistic self and, for me, painting developed into a life-long obsession filled with the excitement, challenges and the frustrations of exploring and experimenting with the way the artist can make the paint play out on the canvas. I love the way a work evolves and the exhilaration that comes from getting it just right.

Since moving to the south coast of NSW, I have spent my time developing and refining my techniques whilst networking with other artists in the region. Apart from this, I am largely self-taught and have enjoyed the freedom of approach that this has allowed me.  My works have always ranged from the traditional landscapes and seascapes to the more contemporary or abstract, depending on the story needing to be told. Having said that, I have found the natural beauty in this area offers wonderful subject matter for the sort of more traditional work I like to create.

Whilst I usually paint in oils, and sometimes acrylics, my travels to England and Europe provided the inspiration for a series of water colours. These foreign landscapes supplied me with a rich visual tapestry to explore and gave me captivating new opportunities to experiment with light and colour from a different perspective.

I have also created pieces in pen and ink, which have been popular with art lovers, although these works are often of an abstract nature and are things I only work on occasionally.

From time to time, I have also enjoyed experimenting with portraiture and have won recognition for my work in local art shows.

Now in my 60s, I still look at the world through the eyes of an artist and I continue to derive great pleasure and fascination from the way light, shape, form and colour can be manipulated so cleverly to create the essential essence of the subject and indeed the mood within a particular work of art. I look forward to what lies ahead in the future and the new challenges I face in bringing the canvas to life...