Michael McHugh has completed his largest work to date, at six meters in length and two meters high. This huge painting is titled ‘Swimming in the Clouds’ and is a celebration of colour within nature, as plant forms float away and down throughout the canopy.
“Drawing underpins all my work and I am constantly reworking shapes and compositions and redrawing to get to the final stage of the painting. Most of my drawing comes from the field – from walks and trips away and from taking photos of patterns, colours and plant forms that I think I may use at some stage for future work. Some drawings start by looking at plant shapes that are extinct, while other varieties may hold a nucleus from DNA found centuries ago. No one plant ever makes it through to a final painting without being manipulated and enhanced in some way. These reimagined plant forms blooming in a riot of colour invite the viewer to take part in a kaleidoscopic world where they can decide if these plants actually exist or are in fact products of my imagination, creating my own botanical language. I work in acrylic as it dries faster than oils, and allows me to overpaint and add detail while immersed in the process of painting the canvas. I often start with layers of paint for the background colour and cover the entire canvas and then, referencing my drawings, I begin the process of painting in the composition. Once the main shapes are in place with colour, technique and pattern, I begin using macro and micro detail as each plant form transforms and begins to really float across the canvas. From there I look at the finer, smaller forms and connecting pieces that bring each plant form together … perhaps through spinning, whirling vines running throughout the painting.”
– Michael McHugh, MiNDFOOD magazine 2022
The work was commissioned as part of a public exhibition titled ‘Above the Canopy’ which explores the diverse beauty of the Australian environment and is now hanging at the Town Hall Gallery in Melbourne.
