Creagh Manning

I was born in Melbourne in 1950. From a young age, I was interested in drawing and painting. However, I was unaware that painting could be a career and completed a full science stream in secondary school while painting at home.

At 18, I left school and obtained work as a structural steel draughtsman. At the same time, I began studying painting privately with Bill Coleman. I studied with Bill for four years, and he introduced me to the VAS, where I exhibited in group shows from 1972. Eventually, I left work and studied full-time for a Diploma in Painting at Prahran CAE, followed by a Graduate Diploma in Education. I taught art and design in Secondary and TAFE until 1999 when I retired. I have painted full time ever since.

In the 1980s, I obtained a Visual Arts Board studio in northern Italy to study the compositions of Giotto and the quattrocento painters, such as Masaccio and Botticelli. On a subsequent visit, the architecture and landscape of northern Italy also impressed me. Although my influences are wide, ranging across the entire history of painting, my work strongly aligns with early 20th Century Modernism.

My paintings are not always concerned with literal depictions of nature; rather, they are the visual distillation of my personal experiences, feelings and imaginings. Whilst painting, I attempt to organise all the formal elements of painting necessary to my own expression into a unique, interesting whole. 

Paintings will often start with representational or imaginative drawings or sketches, which become the genesis of a painting. I frequently begin with thin washes of monochromatic or limited colour acrylics. At this stage, while the painting is fluid and changeable, I resolve the composition. When I’m satisfied with the arrangement, I might restate the drawing before switching to oils to add colour and, hopefully, complete the picture. However, I often can’t fully resolve a painting and need to leave it unfinished in the studio, sometimes for years, until I discover how to finish it.

I work with a wide range of motifs. The subjects I choose reflect my interests at the time. How I paint them is what interests me the most. Consequently, I have painted imaginary genre pieces, portraits, landscapes, still life, and even decorated ceramics. 

I have also worked in several mediums, including painting, drawing, etching, and relief printing (Linocuts). The three paintings I have chosen for the Artist of the Year Exhibition reflect my current interest in landscape.