David Shields Art

22/03/2026

Definitely the day to paint inside for an hour, then sit by the pool and read my art magazine…. Then repeat :)

15/03/2026

‘NEW ART FOR SALE’
‘A Day at the Beach’
An Aussie weekend captured on canvas.

I’ve just finished this large oil painting inspired by the organised chaos of Bondi Beach. Sunshine, surf, sand, and people everywhere simply enjoying the day.

Painting this piece was a real journey. There are so many moving parts in a beach scene like this (figures, light, water, footprints, distance - and bringing it all together into something that feels natural and the kind of beach scene we are used to.

While it’s a painting of Bondi, it’s also really about something bigger for me.
It’s about the Australian weekend - getting out in the sun, catching a wave (it’s a boogie board for me unfortunately), lying on the sand, reading a book, and spending time with mates or the fam.

Moments that feel simple at the time, but somehow become the memories we carry with us.

Artwork details
• Oil on canvas
• 150 × 75 cm
• Professional quality materials
• Gloss varnished and ready to hang
• $1,300
• Free delivery Australia wide

This is an original one-off painting, so if it finds the right home, it won’t be available again.

If it speaks to you, feel free to send me a message.

And as always, if you know someone who loves the beach or Australian coastal life, passing on this post really helps my work reach new people. A lot of my paintings find homes through the friends and family of my dedicated followers, so taking the minute to pass it on means a lot.

Thanks so much for the support :)

15/03/2026

I need a little help from my friends 🙂

In about an hour I’ll be posting my newest painting for sale, ‘A Day at the Beach’, showing Bondi in all its sunshine and glory.

90% of my paintings find their homes not just through ‘you’ all who follow my art page and my art journey, but through the friends and family who you invite.

So if the coming post reminds you of someone who loves the beach, Bondi, or this kind of artwork, feel free to point them in its direction when it goes up. Likewise feel free to let everyone know know it is up for sale 🙂

I really appreciate the support. It genuinely helps the artwork reach the people who might connect with it.

09/03/2026

Knowing when to finish a painting is an art in itself 🙂

This Bondi Beach piece feels right on that edge. One more brushstroke might lift it… or it might undo something that’s already working.

It’s been a big journey with this one. Lots of figures, shifting light across the sand, and plenty of little complexities to work through across the canvas. Exactly the sort of challenge I love!!

And it’s been great being able to use references from our family holiday. A whole bunch of people just enjoying the amazing Bondi Beach.

20/02/2026

Still working away on this one!! Still haven’t got to the Bondi Beach headlands + a bunch more work on figures and making sand details realistic.

08/02/2026

06/02/2026

A bit of early morning painting before a day of cricket. Already looking forward to getting back to it after a win :)

21/01/2026

Whenever I’m tackling a new seascape, I still put together a little wall of reference images beside the easel.

Most of these are actually pulled straight from Scott Christensen’s Paint the Ocean course I did 8-9 years ago, which is still available for people to enrol.

It’s nice to be reminded that even as your style evolves, good reference and good teaching never really leave you.

Old habits, but good ones.

This one is still a fair way off but on the right track :)

17/01/2026

This is my current Bondi Beach painting, and it’s very much in that middle stage where things feel really exposed and uncertain.

I’ve noticed I often post my work midway through, right at the point where a painting feels most vulnerable. Everything looks basic, unresolved, and there’s still a long way to go. I think I post at this stage to give myself the confidence to push through the hardest part.

I talk with such assurity about process because I do trust the process. I know the steps. I know how paintings evolve. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It still takes real confidence and courage to keep going when things aren’t yet working, when the figures feel awkward, the composition feels loose, and the whole thing could honestly go either way.

I don’t just want to show the shiny, finished painting at the end. I want to show these moments too. The uncomfortable middle. The uncertainty. The challenge ahead. Because this is where the real work happens, and it’s where I spend most of my time as an artist.

I feel good that this painting will find its way. They usually do. But right now, it’s about putting on some good music, staying with it and trusting that pushing through this stage is part of making something that will look brilliant!!!.

20/09/2025

A slightly longer reflecting post again 🙂

A lot of you know I am just as likely to paint a series of seascapes as I am to sit down with a portrait, an abstract or the rugged bush of our high country. What brings it all together for me is INSPIRATION.

Sometimes that spark comes from the simplest things. Sitting up in the Jeeralangs, I want to paint bush scenes. Standing on a winter beach at Phillip Island I want to capture those cold crashing waves. Driving past the rundown industrial back blocks of Churchill I want to paint them as they are, raw and honest.

At the moment I am sitting in the Byron Bay landscape (a little different from the outlook of Churchill 😊), looking out at the surf rolling in. I know I will head home with fresh ideas for seascapes that carry the feel of this summer ahead.

Just as Monet kept returning to his gardens in Giverny, or Lautrec loved his Moulin Rouge and the back cafés of Paris, or McCubbin sat out the back of Box Hill painting works like The Pioneers, I keep coming back to whatever is around me.

This has been with me for a long time. When I was living in London, in my early 20’s, I would sit in Leicester Square, or Tower Bridge with my sketchbook, just drawing whatever passed by. That habit of ‘seeing’ and then wanting to capture it has never left.

So I imagine when I come back from this trip it will be the same again. A new series. A new take on the east coast. A new chance to follow inspiration where it leads.

That is what inspires me.