Renowned Queensland still-life painter John Honeywill is the first artist in the Gallery’s new Open Studio initiative at the Queensland Art Gallery. We spoke with the artist about the meaning objects bring to our lives, how he creates drama through juxtaposition, and his resolve to paint beautiful things. John Honeywill Brisbane-born artist John Honeywill studied at Kelvin Grove Teachers’ College for two years in the late 1960s, before moving to Bundaberg to begin teaching at the age of 19. The Flying Arts School, founded by Mervyn Moriarty in 1971, which travelled across the state, gave Honeywill the opportunity to work with many artists — including Roy Churcher, whom he describes as ‘a fabulous teacher’ — over the decade that followed. ‘I look back at that time in Bundaberg as a kind of apprenticeship’, he says. Honeywill’s early career was a period of exploration in which he tried different media and genres each year: he worked with pastels, created still lifes, and painted landscapes and seascapes while living at nearby Bargara. ‘I continued to try different things into the 1990s’, he says, ‘but there was something about the idea of still life that kept popping up’. In the mid 1990s, Honeywill ‘came to a point where I felt that I had been trying to be an artist that my head wanted me to be. But I kept returning to still life and decided to commit to that, and to try to simply be a good painter.’ A confluence of events and circumstances around this time were important to Honeywill’s development as an artist: ‘The late and wonderful Peter Beiers, when he was still at Folio Books, gave me a catalogue of [works by] English artist Euan Uglow’, he says — a book that he would look at every night for two years. ‘Peter was always keeping in mind books for people, grabbing you when you came into the GOMA Store and saying, “Hey, I’ve got a book I think you will like!” I owe him a great debt for that simple book, and many other things’. Uglow, who is best known for his nude and still-life paintings made in London from the 1960s through to the late 90s, slowly developed his practice while painting the same subjects throughout his career. ‘That example of someone who ignored trends was inspirational — they are such beautifully resolved pieces, and that little catalogue gave me the resolve to simply paint what I wanted.’ Honeywill’s commitment to still life was reinforced by a lecture given by John Berger at the Tate Modern in 2000 that was later published in Art Monthly. Berger wrote: The drama in a still life is the drama found in a juxtaposition, a placing, an encounter, within a protected space . . . The painter is forced to study the neighbourliness of the things in front of him, how they adjust and live together, how they intersect, overlap and keep separate, and how they converse. ‘Berger clearly articulates what is often deemed to be a very simple subject’, Honeywill says, ‘but he explains it so beautifully, with reference to some of my favourite artists, such as Zurbaran and Morandi. But that interplay — it’s amazing, when you play with objects, how we read them in human terms. Whether with apples or crumpled bits of paper, you can explore a feeling and a narrative through those arrangements.’ Honeywill has painted many objects over the years, ranging from the quirky (a Random House Australia box that resembles a ‘random house’, for example) to the delectable — meringues, licorice allsorts and rocky road. Watch | John Honeywill Margaret Olley ‘Hawkesbury wildflowers and pears’ c.1973 A series of works made during a residency at the Tweed River Gallery in Murwillumbah includes vessels formerly owned by artist Margaret Olley, which Honeywill says were a great privilege to paint. He admits that he often gravitates towards objects that have served some practical purpose, such as jugs, vases, bowls, cups and bottles. He adds: The thing I love about older things is that they have served us and they then have meaning to us. Not a specific sentimental meaning, but they’ve been a part of our lives. That’s why most of the things I paint come from around the house. It would never interest me to paint something precious or expensive, because it’s immediately weighted with too much baggage, and they’re not things that you use every day. The humanness of those simple objects is what draws me to them. Over time, Honeywill says, he has become bolder with his colour palette — a statement that immediately rings true in the fiery red of an enamel jug, the pop of orange in an oriental poppy, the appetising rose in a piece of Turkish delight, and the dazzling yellow of a group of lemons. He often determines that a work is finished when he has made it ‘sing’ or ‘hum’, a quality difficult to define but impossible to miss when looking at the harmony and balance of his finished paintings. ‘Colour has always interested me’, he says, ‘but after a six-week trip that [my wife] Trish and I took to Italy — where we saw the rich, vibrant colour in those stunningly beautiful Renaissance works — I came back and decided: I’m just going to enjoy painting. We can be far too serious about it, whereas I now aim for a lightness of touch. I’ve always been interested in the idea of light in a painting, but I think that, in the last five years, I’m hopefully getting closer to capturing the light and subtle colour interplay that I’m after.’ After the Gallery invited Honeywill to be the first Open Studio artist, the final shape of the project evolved through discussions with the QAGOMA Learning team, headed by Terry Deen. ‘Terry said, “The Gallery is full of really beautiful completed works — this is about showing...

We continue our Open Studio series of blogs to explore the artist’s practice and delve into the processes and ideas that drive the artist to create an artwork. Still life artist and art educator John Honeywill explores the studio as an essential site for housing ideas, images and objects. Pick up clues and tips about how the artist experiments, manipulates and refines materials and processes. Open Studio is open daily and includes a range of onsite programs for creative activities and broader learning. Ideas Ideas for painting can come in many ways. Still life artist John Honeywill has found inspiration in the work of masters and contemporaries, ideas in children’s literature, objects observed in passing, gifts from friends, vessels and forms from work, travels and home. Watch | John Honeywill Photography John Honeywill shares with QAGOMA significant details that saw his process, subject matter and composition shift over time. Having laboriously painted from life early in his career, Honeywill began to work from photographs following time in Italy where the lasting vibrancy of renaissance painting inspired him to embrace colour and opened challenges of documenting compositions of vibrant organic subject matter before decay. ‘I started photographing my still life subjects out of necessity, if you are going to paint flowers over many weeks, the flowers will die, and it became liberating’. Watch | John Honeywill Verification John Honeywill’s use of photograph enables him to tinker, pause and make discerning selections – a process he’s termed verification. ‘I leave my subject for a period of time, and go back and look at it, not all subjects deserve to be painted’. Watch | John Honeywill Printing Having worked meticulously to decide upon an image to paint, John Honeywill chooses to work from an imperfect print out of his chosen photographed composition. ‘Printing my images is liberating, as I can go where ever I want with it, ignoring certain details’. Watch | John Honeywill Draw and Paint John Honeywill is a painter who’s processes are time-consuming and measured. He layers colour to form very deliberate relationships between background colours, objects, light, shadows and reflections. Watch | John Honeywill The mind wanders What do you think about when you paint – colour, tone, complementary colours, minor adjustments? John Honeywill discusses examples of the ideas that enter his mind as he paints that shed light on how ideas of otherness are present in his work (a rocky road as a mountainous scape, or a merengue as a floating form). Watch | John Honeywill When a painting is finished Distance, time, close looking, not looking and relooking, are all part of the final steps in the process of resolving an artwork. Does the painting capture the feeling and mood you are after? John Honeywill adjusts tonal work, adds touches of colour, or adjusts elements to add tension. Watch | John Honeywill Reading List John Honeywill selected these books on the artists who inspired him. To read, research or learn more about these artists, visit the QAGOMA Research Library. Laura Mattioli and others. Giorgio Morandi: Late Paintings. David Zwirner, New York, 2017. Paul Hills. Brice Marden. Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2018. Donald Woodman. Agnes Martin and Me. Lyon Artbooks, New York, 2016. Chris Bedson. Euan Uglow: Sargy Mann. John Rule, 2017. Michael Hawker and others. Margaret Olley – A Generous Life. QAGOMA, Brisbane, 2019 QAGOMA Research Library The QAGOMA Research Library is located on Level 3 of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). Open to the public Tuesday to Friday 10.00am to 5.00pm. visit us in person or explore the online catalogue. Access to special collections is available by appointment. Featured image: John Honeywill painting in his studio