When John Kennedy begins one of his intricate, detailed drawings he rarely knows where it will take him or when it will end. In fact, he only knows a drawing is finished when he finds that he has moved on to the next one.
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"It's always very difficult to say when it ends," the West Wollongong artist says.
"The only way I know when I've finished a drawing is when I naturally find a detachment and start working on another drawing.
"You could keep it going forever, really. I'll start off just by scribbling a line and allowing the forms to happen.
"It's like when you watch clouds and you see images in the clouds; I'm kind of applying the same principle by making clouds in drawings and then finding the image in it and enhancing it.
"Sometimes I'll begin with a face and then everything builds around it. I never truly know the way the finished drawing will look."
Kennedy's art is influenced by expressionism while containing an element of magical realism and a strong story-telling component. He draws on both traditional and contemporary art techniques.
Kennedy, who studied art at West Wollongong TAFE and the University of Wollongong, is the subject of a profile on the television series Colour in Your Life on the digital TV channel 4ME (channel 64 in the Illawarra), screening at 6.30pm today.
The show, which Kennedy describes as "a portfolio in motion", and accompanying website (www.colourinyourlife.com.au) showcase the work of Australian artists.
"It's a great way of having an arts community developed while utilising the power of television as a way of getting people's works out there," he says.
"We talked about the different types of work I do and then went through my thought processes of how I produce my work. I do a lot of very intricate drawing work so I wanted to go through the process of showing how I begin. It's like a workshop on TV."
Kennedy says artists need to be open to different ways of working and new ways of presenting work.
While his work has been exhibited in galleries in Australia and the United Kingdom, Kennedy has also illustrated books, worked on archaeological projects and collaborated with musicians. In addition he teaches painting and drawing at Levers Wollongong.
"I like to diversify my work," Kennedy says.
"I try to explore different areas and then bring that back to the workshops I do at Levers, which is about presenting to the students different ways of looking at where they can deliver their work.
"It's not necessarily just galleries, which equates to only a small percentage of where your works can be presented."
John Kennedy's artwork will be featured in a joint exhibition at the Matthew Gillett Gallery at Scarborough Hotel opening on June 27.
