Malcolm Pettigrove

“My work is inspired by the beauty in trees and the myriad forms that beauty takes. My drawing brings me joy and solace.”

Malcolm draws imagined trees and mythical landscapes. His drawings are intricate and exquisitely detailed, each the result of many hours of work. His trees are often suspended in space, their finely wrought root structures sustained by – and defining – an invisible sphere. His landscapes depict dark forests and light-filled fields, towers of stones and still waters, all made visible with the smallest of black marks.

Malcolm works with fine tipped pigment ink pens and cotton rag papers of varying textures and tones. His final works are a beautifully detailed melding of the pigment inks drawn into the cotton fibres in the papers.

Each of his works is finished with two Chinese seals dipped in red ink. The seals, carved from stone, were gifted to Malcolm by his Chinese students in 1983-4 when he was living and working in Shanghai, China.  The characters in the seals mean “small forest” or “little wood” and captures the meaning of Malcolm’s surname, Pettigrove.

Having travelled broadly in Australia and overseas and lived in Dandenong, Oxford, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Canberra, Malcolm draws inspiration from many natural environments.

Malcolm is married to Linda and they have two grown children, Kathryn and Adam. He has been a teacher, a university lecturer and scholar, both in Australia and overseas, and an educational consultant. Malcolm retired from academia in 2013 and now dedicates himself to his drawing.