Lynne Mowbray|

The Coldstream Gallery – ‘Black Gallery’ in Ulmarra hosted the official opening of the Dave Sparkes Exhibition on Sunday afternoon.

In his biography, Dave said that he had been a senior writer/photographer for the iconic surfing magazine, Tracks, for over 20 years:

“My photographs have adorned the covers of magazines in many countries, including the US, Australia, France, New Zealand, England and Spain, and most notably I photographed the cover of the 2005 US Surfer Magazine Photo Annual.”

Dave said that he’s been painting since his high school years, which were mainly in acrylics and oils, back in those days.

He worked as a photographer until the digital revolution made it a lot less profitable, and as he had more time on my hands, he began painting a lot more.

“I struggled for a long time and finally got my head around how to deal with (painting in) watercolour,” Dave said.

“With watercolour, you basically try and let it do its own thing and not overpower it with your own agender. You have to let it paint itself and let the water do the work.

“Once that penny started to drop, I started getting some good results and started selling a few and getting into exhibitions and now I do that full time.

“I’ve been painting in watercolour for about 10 years and fulltime for about five years.

“I’ve definitely got a passion for landscapes and particularly seascapes. Landscapes are all around us; it’s where we live and where we’ve evolved – it’s what I love.

“I think my landscapes definitely tend towards the fantasy realm, in the sense that although they’re quite realistic impressionism. They’re based on places as they were, before they were interfered with by man. So, in a sense there’s a sort of melancholy about them, that I wish those places were still like that,” he said.

Dave Sparkes watercolour exhibition at the Black Gallery (Coldstream Gallery) in Ulmarra until 22 March.

For more information go to Coldstream Gallery Ulmarra on Facebook.