SAHC Gallery Artist Interview
Lake Alexandra is a much-loved location for many residents and tourists in the heart of Mittagong. When painting in plein air how do you balance interacting with the local community and dedicating time to capturing the scenery?
I try to go to the lake frequently and just gather notes or visual data all the time. I talk to everyone who approaches me and says hello or asks what I’m up to, but if I get caught up talking I don’t mind because I know I will be back another day soon.
I use different mediums too, scribbling with a pen in a tiny sketchbook does not attract as much attention as an easel with oils or a beautiful box of soft pastels! And nobody bats an eyelid if I’m taking photos.
You spent the mid-2010s immersed in the Hawke's Bay landscape with your family before moving to the Southern Highlands. What is it about Lake Alexandra's colour pallet that differs from other locations in the Southern Highlands?
The reflections of the sky when it’s sunny at the lake in the afternoon create a really deep blue when you’re standing on the far side, just like all the light bouncing off the Pacific in Hawke’s Bay NZ makes the sky there a deeper blue than it is here.
I spent a few years trying to find that in the landscape here. I drew and painted the Blue Mountains on the horizon from the Gib and reflections in the Wingecarribee River at Berrima, but the proportion of blue to the whole picture was never enough! I also painted Fitzroy Falls and Cecil Hoskins Reserve, but those places, although enjoyable to work in, have a more earthy palette to my eye.
One of the first impressions viewers experience when exploring your works is your attention to capturing the impermanence of reflections. Why is water an important symbol for your artists' practice?
Reflections interest me because of their shapes, the repetition of patterns, the way their symmetry doubles the area in which you can apply a wash of colour, and they give the illusion of light bouncing around and the feeling of space.
When hanging on your wall, pictures of reflections give you a space in your mind and invite thinking and contemplation.
How do you approach the creative process? Do you have any specific routines or procedures before approaching a body of work?
The creative process is ongoing and cyclical. I prioritise information gathering and visual note-taking over producing finished works. It’s actually the looking and noticing that I value - being outside.
When the seasons change I get excited and revisit my favourite trees and views to see how they’re doing, then I begin to imagine what a series of works might look like based on what I’ve seen and which medium will convey that best. I might make a little study, then paint another, possibly larger version, or try the idea out with different coloured grounds. I work from my drawings or photos, whatever input has sparked that urge to paint. And prepping boards and canvas gets me thinking at that particular scale.
How has your style changed since studying Fine Arts?
I now have time constraints due to work and family commitments, and my studio is now a desk in the family room. I paint in the kitchen when everyone’s out, or outside in the landscape. So my artwork has become a lot smaller, it needs to be portable and on a domestic scale. There’s a lot less charcoal! I don’t build works with layers of acrylic as much anymore, which takes up time and space.
I have also read a lot about art history since I started studying, including lots of artists’ biographies. Learning how other artists, especially women, have fitted art-making into their lives. Women like Clarice Beckett and Winifred Nicholson went for a more direct, alla prima approach and lately, I’ve been trying that out. So my style is evolving towards a more impressionist/ expressionist mode, with brushwork and mark-making becoming more important.
What is your top list of inspirations that have informed your current practice?
I read somewhere that you paint your life, and that is certainly true for me. So a few years ago my children and the NZ landscape were my inspiration.
Now my top inspirations include:
Colour in the Southern Highlands landscape: blue reflections, pink blossom trees, orange sunsets…all excuses for using bright colour.
Interesting shapes (such as trees or reflections).
The changing seasons - the anticipation of something new and beautiful arriving always makes me want to work.