$55,000.00
Ipswich Cricket Original Oil on Board 91cm x 61cm
In this picture, a further presentation of Doyle’s children’s games, the artist has chosen a deserted unpaved street as the ideal setting for a school children’s game of cricket along with their dad. Such a game could never be interrupted unless it was for a very good reason. Doyle succeeds in conveying to the viewer that these were the good old days before the advent of television, when children would be out in the streets and entertain themselves with packing cases and a bat. He completes this panorama of relaxation by adding the lush colours of local flora and the rustic attraction of country homes.
This is a familiar Doyle scene – children playing cricket on a dirt road lined by a few buildings of typically Queensland appearance. Two pine boxes, standing on their ends, serve as the wickets. The boy bowling has almost mastered the overarm action and bowls as best he can. As a boy in Ipswich, Doyle often played cricket in the street like this with his sisters Maureen and Irene, both of whom he remembers bowling underarm. Other kids from neighbouring farms were always invited along. The blooming jacaranda trees were a common sight in Ipswich – as were the iron water tanks at the back of the houses. The street meanders down the hill to another group of farm buildings. D’Arcy often painted a number of scenes within the overall big picture that he visualized in his mind.
Most of d’Arcy’s paintings tell a story and the people in them have a role, like characters in a play. The challenge for d’Arcy was to combine people, buildings and landscape into a living thing. d’Arcy usually sketched a rough idea onto a small piece of cardboard before he put brush to canvas…the idea is always the hardest thing to come up with in the process of painting a picture. Nothing ever touched the canvas except for his brush, fingers and thumbs, which were always getting used.
 d’Arcy Doyle was one of Australia’s most popular artists. It is estimated that 1 in 4 households in Australia has a Doyle print or reproduction from one of his originals. It is the reproduction of his work that has caused his originals to sell at higher and higher prices. This upwards spiral will continue to grow as Doyle originals become more and more sought after.
Original painting by d’Arcy Doyle
In stock
