Christopher McVinish Christmas in Katoomba

Christopher McVinish, a two-time Wynne finalist, describes his paintings as ‘architectural landscapes’, a theme he has pursued as an artist since age 15.

His work in this year’s Wynne documents a slice of Katoomba’s main street, in the Blue Mountains where the artist lives. Peeling paint and rumpled tin awnings contrast with a carefully arranged Christmas display in the windows. A dark sky and an empty street lend a beguilingly lonely air – what McVinish calls ‘a touch of film noir’.

Made over four months from sketches and photos taken in the early-morning light, this painting conveys the artist’s observation of the ‘magic in the everyday’.