'Tractor with Mountain'

Oil painting on linen by Grant McSherry. 1200 mm x 800 mm.

Mount Taranaki / Egmont was my subject for oil painting from late 2005 through to the end of 2006. This is the third work in my initial series on New Zealand’s great volcano. The story behind ‘Tractor with Mountain’ began a number of years ago...

Left: The original, 'Tractor with Mountain' is a large size oil painting, finished in a hand crafted, black lacquer shadow frame with negative space.

I discovered the first New Zealand landscape painting to captivate me in a big way when I was studying art at school. Michael Smither’s ‘Rocks with Mountain’ (1968) contributed significantly toward fuelling my interest in landscape painting and that work was also responsible for me spending my entire sixth form year painting river stones and rocks that filled a plethora of imaginary landscapes…

The Michael Smither painting consists of the peak of Mt Taranaki / Egmont protruding from behind a huge pile of river stone like rocks. Within the rock pile is a crystal clear pool of water and perched on top of the rocks, away in the distance, is a very cool red tractor.

I guess all that came back when I came across a tractor around the western side of Mt Taranaki / Egmont during a field trip in September 2005. I found an opportunity to combine some of the elements of an old favourite painting in my own way.

Although the main elements of this oil painting are unashamedly “borrowed,” this landscape painting is very much my individual expression, a representation of the western face of Mt Taranaki / Egmont, which is much less commonly painted. This area has a rugged, undeveloped feel… It’s pretty much all dairy farmland. Volcanic mounds shaped like great beehives covered with lush green grass crop up everywhere around the pastures which are carved up by a plethora of small creeks flowing from Mt Taranaki / Egmont.

The Grant McSherry oil painting ‘Tractor with Mountain’ depicts farmland on the side of Wiremu Road at dusk. The tractor seems to be opposed to the great Taranaki / Egmont volcano as if in readiness of a futile effort to move the mountain first thing in the morning…

As with all of my recent work, this image is not widely available as an art print. Up to only 195 Giclee fine art prints on canvas are now available as a limited release. A limited run of 450 offset prints on paper may be released at a later date.

Original painting 'Tractor with Mountain': oil on linen.
Original painting size: 1200mm x 800mm.

Available for purchase NZ $11,500 plus packaging & freight if applicable.