Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland since 1986

Grahame Sydney is best known for his magnificent landscapes of Central Otago, many of which hang in public and private collections in New Zealand and abroad. Such is the universal appeal of Sydney's work that his paintings are owned by Elton John, Nelson Mandela and Sam Neill. Sydney's contribution to New Zealand art is considered so significant that in 2003 he was awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, (ONZM) for services to painting. For almost 30 years Sydney's paintings have been inspirational with their ability to evoke a sense of wonder and kinship.

From childhood drawings of Disney characters in the 1950s, through to the large majestic landscapes of Otago forty years onward, Grahame Sydney's passion for painting has never diminished. He has worked in oils, watercolour, tempera, etchings and lithographs. Following his first solo exhibition at the Moray Gallery in 1972, he spent a period overseas in the United Kingdom and Europe before returning to Dunedin in 1974 to begin life as a full-time artist. Those years have witnessed an impressive and substantial body of work, and an extensive exhibition history.

Sydney is a clever magician who plies his craft with great skill and subtlety, making paintings that are seemingly simple, but their plain reality tenders deeper emotions than simple recognition. You don't just see the land here, you feel it ... These hills, these skies give us a voice that is unique, a voice that is evoked by the art of Grahame Sydney. It is the voice of us all. Keith Stewart.

It seems to me that the essentials of landscape are seen with the heart. There's a lot of feeling in his work, but it's not up front, it's not indulgent, it's not demanding of emotion - but there's a lot of emotional tension there in the paintings. Owen Marshall.

This work Above Murdering Beach, 1986 is an original watercolour - a preliminary work for Grahame Sydney's oil on linen Above Murdering Beach painted in 1987.