Leith O'Malley is a South Australian artist who paints jazz musicians and jazz themes. Leith works in a variety of traditional mediums to produce large striking works in oil, acrylic, pastel and mixed media but also produces digital art images via computer.
A jazz enthusiast, his current work "Jazz is Art, Art is Jazz" has become an ongoing series of paintings and pastels, which he regularly exhibits in the exquisite Durham's Restaurant/Gallery in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. Located at 2 Durham Street in Glenelg, this restaurant is run by critically acclaimed London and Paris trained Chef Ian Burrows.
Some of his clients include: BHP Australia, Ericsson Finland, Mitsubishi Motors, West End
Breweries, United States Coast Guard, Guenette Production Company- Los
Angeles, Bhp Civil Products Sydney, 5ka Radio Station, Pace2000,
University Of San Diego, Family Social Services Switzerland,
Information Branch - Federal Government- Ontario Canada, Bristol
University-Uk, Tokyo Electron Arizona Inc, Ws Atkins Rail Ltd-Derby
Uk, Old Ghan Restaurant, Sacat, 5yyy Fm Radio, Regional Australia
Committee, Internet Magazine (Nz), Sonics Music Magazine, Milestone
Media, Triple J Mag & Web Site, Mobil, South Australian Institute Of
Technology
For more information, visit Leith O'Malley's website.
All paintings copyright © Leith O'Malley. All Rights Reserved.
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MILES DAVIS (OIL on BOARD)
A painting which currently hangs in Durham's Restaurant in Glenelg, South Australia. I don't usually go down the abstract path but this seemed to work. Kind of nice to know Miles is watching over the diners each night (man, he must get hungry!). Like most of my painting these days - something old, something new, something kind of blue..
"GREEN COAT, BLUE NOTE" (PASTEL ON PAPER)
Nice big brassy sax blowing away to round off a small pastel series. I was just about out of pastels by this stage too! Thankfully my own Tenor was in the corner of the studio and served as a good reference when working on the finger key details.
"LOUIS" (PASTEL ON PAPER)
2001 marked one hundred years since the birth of the legend that is Louis Armstrong. I have tried to capture the exuberance and joyful nature of the man rather than including his usual trademark trumpet and handkerchief. The text was added last giving the portrait a kind of show-card feel.
"TRUMPET Player" (DIGITAL PRINT)
Another horn player materialises whilst Don Cherry, Miles, Wynton, Dizzy and Vince Jones take turns on the CD player.
"COLTRANE" (OIL ON BOARD)
There's been a few changes to this work with the addition of Coltrane songs listed down the right hand side of the painting in oil stick. So a "work in progress" at present and good company whilst I practice my own Tenor Sax scales in the studio.
"BILLIE HOLIDAY" (OIL ON BOARD)
Like most portraits I do, I like to play the music of the person whilst I paint. I had a great "best of Lady Day" CD for this session but for some reason I kept going back to one particular moody track of Billie's titled "Big Stuff".
"JAZZ AT THE BAY" (PRINT REPRODUCTION FROM OIL PAINTING)
This is the Official Poster from the 2001 Holdfast Bay Jazz Festival. The original painting is a large oil on canvas, and is displayed permanently in the Bay Discovery Centre at Glenelg, South Australia.
The idea behind the painting came from the work I was doing on the Jazz Is Art series. After preliminary discussions with the festival organisers and several photo snaps in Glenelg, I progressed the early stages of the painting to include the Town Hall in the background, before adding various other touches to the characters featured in the foreground. I love using layers of thick paint where I can, but this proved to be a small problem when trying to get the paint to dry in the colder weather prior to delivery! Still, there’s nothing like a dose of good jazz to warm up a cold studio, and much of my inspiration to produce art these days comes from this amazing music which I consider an art form in itself.
A3 Reproductions like the one featured here can be purchased by emailing me.
There is a limited edition print run of 500 signed and 500 unsigned available for those of you who want a special souvenir of the Glenelg Jazz Festival 2001.
JAZZ TRIP” (ACRYLLIC ON CANVAS) TRIPTYCH
I loved painting these three characters. It can be frustrating sometimes trying to get somewhere between not enough detail and way too much. This loose painting comes close to what I was after though and I think I’ve managed to capture some of the frenetic nature of a jazz trio.
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