Jeffery Smart

Jeffrey Smart said about his painting practice:

‘... in the end my pictures are completely synthetic. I move things around – change the height of buildings, colours, shadows, light – to get the composition right.’

While many of Smart’s paintings appear to be accurate depictions of real scenes and landscapes, the artist plays with reality, changing different parts of the landscape to create paintings that capture our imagination.

Look closely at Playground (Children playing). Notice how the artist has composed the picture, placing the shapes, shadows and objects to create the scene. What elements has the artist emphasised to catch our attention?

If you were the artist, what parts of the painting would you move or change?

How would you describe this playground? How would you feel playing in this scene?

What would you include in your imaginary playground?

Imagine a scene in a play that uses this setting as a stage set. What characters might you encounter? What could happen in this scene?

Write a few paragraphs to describe the setting and a few lines of dialogue for this play.