Hunter Valley based artist, Malcolm Sands, diverged from an early passion for scale models and diorama making into painting after visits to the venerated Von Bertouch Gallery (1963 – 2003) in Cooks Hill, Newcastle NSW. After taking some short painting and drawing classes through WEA Newcastle in the late 1990’s, he then undertook night painting classes at the Hunter St TAFE in 2000 and 2001. Since that time, he has regularly exhibited his work in Newcastle and Sydney.

The principal theme in Malcolm’s work is his relationship with landscape. Through observation and memory of diverse landscapes such as new housing developments and urbanisation to long drives on country roads and more recently artist expeditions to Central Australia have informed and shaped his artistic journey.

Malcolm’s art practice is centred on making plein air works on paper in a variety of mediums such as gouache, watercolour, ink, a variety of pencils and chalk pastels. These works on paper then inform paintings for exhibition mostly executed in a solvent free oil technique. Recent experimentation with working on board has allowed a variety of materials to be used in layering an image before completing a work in oil paint.