Exhibition Title: Our Lake Alexandra
Lake Alexandra in Mittagong is well loved by the local community. It is a magnet for picnickers, birthday parties, walkers, dog owners, Year Six Farewell photos, aged care home outings, school cross-country runs and preschoolers on bikes. People go there to exercise, connect with other people and take a breath from the busy pace of life in the fresh Highlands air.
I am drawn to the shapes of the trees, mountains, lake, reflections and sky…and to the amazing seasonal colour. When I tell my family I’m going out to draw, I usually go there. I try to translate my experience into drawings and paintings. It’s quite busy at the lake sometimes, so it can be hard to tuck yourself away to draw or paint uninterrupted. I have taken watercolour, gouache, pastel and oil paint to work with at the lake. Lots of people stop to chat and they are always nice. If I feel like keeping to myself, I draw using a felt tip pen in my sketchbook in the car.
This exhibition is the culmination of my focus on the lake across the last few years, including interpretations in watercolour and mixed media, oil and acrylic. I was going to call the exhibition My Lake Alexandra, but I feel the lake belongs to the whole community. I hope my work adds to other people’s ideas and feelings about Lake Alexandra since the landscape we live in also lives in our minds and imaginations. The landscape of the lake provides a beautiful backdrop and the texture of our lives.