David Sorensen
Painter (Brisbane QLD)

Dave was born in 1955 in Oxford, UK, grew up on the island of Aruba, has travelled extensively worldwide, and has lived several times in Europe.  He is essentially a self-taught artist, aside from informal sessions with his friend Johannes Baech, master artist of Viborg, Denmark.  Dave is a member of the US National Watercolor Society, the Virginia Watercolor Society, the Hampton Arts League, and is a charter member of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection’s “Mara Tjuta Circle.” His paintings can be found in more than 60 private collections world-wide, including that of Maureen Hansen, who has encouraged Dave’s movement into professional art circles in Australia.

His work reflects his love of the Australian bush, dating to 1975 when he spent almost a year exploring in an old Kombi with his best mate, an Aussie met through a school exchange program. Upon returning to college, Dave continued to paint Australian landscapes, holding up slides to the light or abstracting from memory.  Following a 26-year, defense-related career as a US Marine helicopter pilot, intelligence officer, and systems consultant, Dave resumed serious painting, turning professional in 2008.  He paints subjects identified during recent visits to Australia, especially while camping on Moreton Island. Ironically this includes many pristine sites devastated by the March 2009 the oil spill.  The “Center” is also a favorite subject, reflecting memories while stranded 5 weeks at Ayers Rock by a crook Kombi motor.

Dave’s primary medium is watercolour, but he has also worked in oil and acrylic, sculpted, designed mobiles and other crafts, painted a large mural for his University, and is an avid photographer.  He prefers a realistic style to reflect the natural beauty in both small and large subjects. Dave has a unique, self-taught approach to watercolour, building up many layers on heavy, absorbent paper to achieve the richness and depth of his colours.  One Australian art critic said it best:

“...there is something very special about your paintings Dave - a quality of light and intensity of colour that really engages me. There is a very subtle psychological resonance in your approach to light that invokes remembered experience.  It is very evocative of being in that place at that time, which of course is exactly what landscape painting is supposed to do...They are very well composed as well - all the forms working perfectly together to tell a story - ...your’s would have put all of (Kenneth McQueen’s) in the shade - you really understand the genre of watercolour.” 

As a non-national (but Australian “wannabe”) Dave brings a new perspective to this continent.

Dave travels between Australia and his home in Yorktown Virginia USA. For information on how to purchase / commission Dave's work, please contact him below. Gallery enquiries welcome.

Contact David Sorensen