About me

I'm Gaz Anson, an Australian abstract artist working with acrylics. I am known for my love of vibrant colour and unusual palette choices.

My painting and love of colour are borne out of a creative upbringing by an artist mother, Patricia Howell, and exposure to a variety of art forms and practices throughout my life.

I vividly remember being dropped off as a young boy on Saturday mornings at the door of a big dark house in the Blue Mountains to play with oil paints. Possibly I should have been out kicking a ball around, or careering down a hill on a billy-cart made of pram parts. But the world of painting magic and mystery that I was exposed to then has been with me ever since.

In my mid-twenties, after some years wandering about overseas, I returned to Australia to undertake a degree in Japanese, with a thesis focused on the aesthetics of haiku. This was followed by time spent living in Japan.

When I paint, I find myself drawn to the values of refined simplicity and minimalism I associate with Japanese art and aesthetics. My brushstrokes are a kind of joyful, colourful calligraphy. You can see that in the two 'painting journey' videos at the bottom of this page.

I went through a phase when younger producing geometric, mandala-like art that I could 'see' internally; there are two samples on this page.

I produce most of my artwork on canvas, and some on plywood panels. I also create work on paper and occasionally produce digital work.

I have a love of texture which derives from my enjoyment of pottery, especially Japanese raku, and the feel of natural objects like shells and water-smoothed rocks. Talk to me about making tors — on the beach, around the garden, inside the house even!

I see my art primarily as a way to explore ambiguity, movement, and transformation. Each work is a dynamic fragment of a larger whole—inviting shifting interpretations and multiple orientations. In this way, my paintings offer viewers the freedom to reimagine what they are seeing, revealing something new each time they are seen.

With every stroke of my brush or scrape of my palette knife, I'm looking to wrestle into the world a visual representation of my inner landscape.

My work is at heart a celebration of creativity and an honouring of the mystery behind it.

I like to start with a few markings, to break the spell of the blank canvas ...

Samples of my geometric, mandala-like art

The following two videos capture key stages in my creative process and the unfolding of each work, and provide insights into my approach to colour mixing. The final composition only shows itself when it is good and ready. It is up to me then to reel in the catch ...