CAPTURING MOUNTAINS
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- Created: Wednesday, 17 November 2010 20:35
THE LIFE AND ART OF AUSTEN DEANS
By Nathalie Brown
Seeing something in Nature that intensifies my joy in being
alive, I want to try to reproduce it in such a form that when
I see it again I re-live my joy at that divine moment. By so
painting I hope to share my own delight with other people.
– Austen Deans, 1967
At twelve Austen Deans knew he wanted to spend his life exploring the high country and mountain ranges of Canterbury. He became an en plein air artist and has made his living for nearly seventy-five years capturing images of mountains and natural landscapes in water colours and oils.
Capturing Mountains is fully illustrated with examples of Austen Deans' paintings.
These range from those completed while he was still a student to some recent works painted in his nineties.
HIS bid to fly was thwarted as he soared too close to the sun and his wings melted, yet Richard Pearse Airport could be where Icarus gets to relive the sublime feeling of flight. Christchurch sculptor Paul Deans has created a 5 metre sculpture of the Greek legend Icarus for the Heartland Sculpture Competition.