He started oil painting at the age of eight so it was no surprise that he ended up at the Wimbledon art school.  But he studied there in the late sixties and early seventies when painting landscapes, which he was exploring at the time, was not in fashion and certainly not encouraged.

Harley’s interests then moved to film and television and in our conversation he talks about how his career as an editor and producer brought him ultimately to Australia.

Along the way he has always found time for painting and in the last few years his art has taken centre stage. Since 2014 he has had two solo shows of his impressive work at Stanley Street Gallery in Sydney.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T72wOfeZrk8

‘Red Carpet’, 2014, oil on linen

‘Queen Victoria’, 2014, oil on linen

‘They Married’, 2016, oil on linen

“She was a dancer’, 2016, oil on linen

‘Somebody’s boyfriend’, 2016, oil on linen

‘They had red shoes’, 2016, oil on linen

‘I think he died’, 2016, oil on linen

‘Everybody Smoked’, 2016, oil on linen

Work in progress – studying reflections

Portrait by Oliver’s great great great grandfather Samuel Massey, of Massey’s wife and child, c.1838