Simon Tomkinson has been making art for many years, using oil as his preferred medium. Wherever he has lived and travelled, finding a place to paint was always an absolute necessity. Having recently moved to Tasmania, via Johannesburg, London, Hong Kong, Sydney Simon is settling nicely in the peaceful haven of Huon Valley.

In choosing this quiet corner of Glen Huon memories are triggered of cycling through country lanes of Kent, England, banked by endless apple, pear and cherry orchards, and feels like a spiritual homecoming of sorts.

Simon’s practise is in a state of resurrection after decades operating in a corporate world, and squeezing artwork into late nights. He find himself, only now, able to revisit and embrace a life he was beginning to learn. Looking at a canvas he’d be working on, trying to make sense of the following gestures, prompts him to think, consider then reconsider, looking to accept what he makes. 

Simon says he draws inspiration from the Post-Impressionism period, Cezanne’s bridge into the early Modernism and following artistic movements of the 20th century such as German Expressionism, Fauvist art but more significantly Cubism. Trying to interpret form, simplify shape and colour in expressions of fragmented perspectives, and abstraction is something he is particularly interested in. Though he may sometimes fail; some pieces are more successful than others, he tries to figure out why and start again.