Bio
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Award winning marine and landscape artist, David Hooper, lived for over 30 years in Port Hedland - an outback mining port on the north coast of WA. The Pilbara has been called ‘the economic heartbeat of Australia’ and the Iron Ore ships that visit on every tide are one of Hooper’s favourite subjects. He says;
“I love painting the rugged outback landscape with it’s flooding rivers, ghost gums, and rocky outcrops. And my ‘happy place’ is a sundowner on a beach, with family, friends, a BBQ & a beer.”
Recently relocating to Coffs Harbour to be nearer family, David is finding fresh inspiration in the wonderful scenery of the east coast of Australia, as well as the west. There’s a whole new countryside to explore and paint! It was on one of these outings that he discovered a bowler hat in a gorgeous little 2nd-hand store in Bellingen.
“It brought back childhood memories - my uncles had a bowler hat! They were so cool.”
David is finding fresh inspiration in the wonderful scenery of the east coast of Australia, as well as the west. His paintings are once again filled with greens and blues, in no small way, it’s a bit like ‘coming home.'
LONGER BIOGRAPHY
For award winning marine and landscape artist, David Hooper, Port Hedland was home for around 30 years. Originally from Whangarei in New Zealand, a country that is renowned for being mountainous and green, the Pilbara region in North-West Australia came as a bit of a shock. Flat and red, it was a bit like comparing Earth and Mars.
"And yet I love this Rusty Country!" David says, "We meant to move on, but we got married, travelled, and came back here and started a family. Lil’s folks were here and it was of great value to us for our children to have their grandparents around."
For 15 years David worked as a manufacturing jeweller, an occupation for which he had trained in New Zealand. While working, David pursued his painting hobby.
"My kids grew up with me painting in the lounge on a big roll-out blind, so I didn’t get the floor covered with paint. I tend to be a rather messy painter, almost all my clothes get paint on them, much to my wife’s angst. She’s very glad I now have a studio! I am mostly self-taught, learning through books, through practice, experience, and through teaching art. In the early days I aimed at photorealism, but have been pushing away from reproducing photos. I now aim for a more impressionistic style, something that shows brush strokes, something that is definitely a painting."
The Pilbara has been called ‘the economic heartbeat of Australia’ and the Iron Ore ships that visit on every tide are one of Hooper’s favourite subjects. He says;
“I love painting the industrial activity around me, and also the rugged outback landscape with it’s flooding rivers, ghost gums, and rocky outcrops. And my ‘happy place’ is a sundowner on a beach, with family, friends, a BBQ & a beer.”
Hooper's work is often vibrant, with the use of bold and sometimes unreal colour. He describes them as paintings that are on the on the edge of something new. He loves pushing the colour until it pops, seeking a balance between bold colours and landscapes that exude light.
David’s current goals include painting more on a full time basis, teaching workshops online and on location, and to become a travelling artist, painting and teaching around Australia and the globe. That one may have to wait, but it’s getting closer!
Recently relocating to Coffs Harbour to be nearer family, David is finding fresh inspiration in the wonderful scenery of the east coast of Australia, as well as the west. There’s a whole new countryside to explore and paint! It was on one of these outings that he discovered a bowler hat in a gorgeous little 2nd-hand store in Bellingen.
“It brought back childhood memories - my uncles had a bowler hat! And they were so cool!
David is finding fresh inspiration in the wonderful scenery of the east coast of Australia, as well as the west. His paintings are once again filled with greens and blues, in no small way, it’s a bit like ‘coming home.'