I'm thrilled to announce my first solo gallery show at the Ladder Art Space!
17 Nov - 5 Dec 2020
81 Denmark Street, Kew, Victoria
Has this pandemic year hampered your travel plans? From your armchair or in person, you're invited to journey with me through some great Australian destinations from country to coast. In this landscape art show I share with you some favourite travel moments from Cape Schanck and the Bellarine, to Yulara, Kununurra and the gorgeous Sunshine Coast.
To say I'm excited about this exhibition is the least. Although I have exhibited in group shows it's a dream of mine to have all my pieces in the same room, at the same time, for people to see what I see when I capture a landscape. I've always loved drawing the natural environment and over the last few years found myself compelled to sketch, draw and paint images from my travels.
I like to capture atypical views of rocks, plant life and terrain. Whether a mid range landscape or a micro look into rock pools, I am almost always drawn to rocks. I find them to be wonderfully textural and enjoy portraying their volume and scale. Their variations are endless; each uniquely eroded over time by the environment and their unique composition. Rocks are rarely just grey. They house nature, and life, and tell a story of the landscape with their displacement and erosion. Pastel, with its’ similarly sand like texture, paints rocks with ease and expresses the softness that I interpret in the scenes. It is the perfect medium to depict Australian terrain.
This exhibition in soft pastel explores contrasts.
· Contrasts of hard and soft; depicting hard surfaces with soft, lively lines and bouncing light.
· Contrasts of distance; scenes from standing perspective amongst dunes and sheer cliff walls compared to micro landscapes of rockpools and the fascinating life within them.
· Contrast of place; outback red earth with golden grasses to cool coastal scenes in shadow and mist.
There is a lot of contention about whether pastel art is painting or drawing. Often described as "other media" in art material description, it is anything but! Pastels are made up of pure pigment mixed with binder to create a stick or crayon shape, instead of a liquid paint. The shape of the pastel lends itself to creating a drawing but the application of colour can be blended much like a paint. In this show, I have paired it with a variety of papers and painted gesso substrates, which aid the formation of unexpected marks; such as no two shells, rocks, or fingerprints are perfectly alike.
Melbourne's Ladder Art Space in Kew has warmly welcomed the exhibition and after countless re-shuffles due to Victorian lockdowns, we are finally here!
Click here to see the online exhibition catalogue, or visit the gallery to view the full range.
Tuesday - Friday 12-6pm / Saturday 11-6pm or by appointment call (03) 9852 8772