Salon des Refusés

Artist Name: QIHAN SHEN

Artwork Title: THYLACINES IN QUEEN STREET - NATURE IS TAKING BACK THE CITY

Medium: Watercolour

Size: 76 x 56cm

About the Artist:

I am a professional landscape architect, and my specialty is treating the planet's surface to make wilderness more suitable for human activities, or livable or enjoyable, but the surface of this planet does not belong only to us humans, we as the planet's Higher organisms, when we change the environment of this planet, do we give enough consideration to the survival conditions of other organisms? This is something I have been thinking about and trying to put into practice.

Artist Statement:

This painting is one of my "Nature is taking back the city" series. It was inspired by the year 2022 when the whole world was experiencing the panic of the coronavirus pandemic. Cities have been locked down one after another. With fewer tourists and cruise ships, the water in Venice is crystal clear; The same goes for the Great Orme Kashmiri goats seen on the streets of Llandudno. This makes me think that while human beings' range of action has been greatly restricted, wild animals have enjoyed a brief prosperity. Have we really made the world a better place? Is it possible for human activities and wild animal territory to coexist harmoniously?

Artist Name: PAULA JENKINS

Artwork Title: MACDONALD RIVER FLOWING

Medium: Gouache and artgraf on paper

Size: 39 x 58cm

About the Artist:

Paula is a contemporary landscape artist living in the Northern Tablelands of Walcha NSW. Her expressive drawings and paintings are known for their vivacious use of colour, textures, and mark-making, with the natural environment being at the forefront of her works. Paula has held 13 solo exhibitions and numerous selected group exhibitions in commercial and regional galleries.

Artist Statement:

The MacDonald River flows through the rugged banks of the New England landscape near Walcha in the Northern Tablelands, where I reside. An exaggeration of colour here portrays my connection to and sense of place. The lifeblood of the land.

Artist Name: RYAN PEIK

Artwork Title: 88 TIL INFINITY

Medium: Acrylic brush and knife on canvas

Size: 91 x 61cm

About the Artist:

Zedr is a melbourne based street artist,37 years old,he brings a multi layered glass matrix methodology and structure to traditional realism. He prefers to utilise non customary reference material within his composition and execution

Artist Statement:

I am drawn to rust and patina,the sense of elegance and statesmanship it promotes,there's a sense of visual texture,an added layer of its own unique organic quality that it imbues upon its victims. The presentation of decay and slow recycling of chemicals and compounds back to their original form from which they came. A rejoining with the natural order

Artist Name: NOELINE LEE

Artwork Title: THE ROAD HOME

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 77 x 61cm

About the Artist:

I am a Brisbane Interior Designer, who loves to paint for clients and friends, images that capture our homes and our Australian landscapes. I have been painting for over 20years in Acrylic on canvas.

Artist Statement:

This painting touches on how green our country becomes after the rain. The wide blue sky and dusty gravel road inviting you home.

Artist Name: RUSSELL LANCE SOLOMON

Artwork Title: CIRCUS IN THE SUBURBS

Medium: Wire wood and fabric

Size: 50 x 40cm

About the Artist:

I was born into an artistic family. I spent my childhood drawing, trying all forms of art and sculpture. I created my first wire sculpture in 1989, a simple three dimensional sketch of a gum tree. My work concerns mostly with the natural environment and our impact on it.

Artist Statement:

Magpies are a part of nature to us and we are part of nature to them. I love seeing a magpie in my front garden they seem to regard us inquisitively. When they’re playing on the iconic Hills Hoist in our suburban backyard we are reminded the joy of play.

Artist Name: STEPHEN SMITH

Artwork Title: BEYOND THE STORM

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 76 x 102cm

About the Artist:

Stephen Smith is a contemporary artist based in Sydney. An instinctual self-taught artist, Stephen’s painting practice follows an award-winning career as a sound designer for television and film. His urban landscapes depict emptiness and a sense of disquiet, responding to the personal isolation that can be hidden in a city.

Artist Statement:

Accumulated dust is washed away from a heritage city lane weaving between it’s modern neighbours. The past reflects on the path of the new, reminding us that what was before, and what was before that.

Artist Name: LEIGH SCHOENHEIMER

Artwork Title: STILL-SCAPE: TWEED WEEDS #4 - RETURN

Medium: Acrylic and Oil on plywood

Size: 40 x 92cm

About the Artist:

Leigh Schoenheimer lives and works in Brisbane. She conducts a contemporary, multidisciplinary art practice, working primarily as a painter and maker of idiosyncratic assemblages. In 2022 Schoenheimer undertook an artist’s residency at the Nancy Fairfax Studio, Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW.

Artist Statement:

The word ‘RETURN’ sits between a pretty arrangement of weeds collected from the Tweed Valley and a description of the verdant landscape those weeds have shaped. In this context ‘RETURN’ reminds us of the often invisible extinction crisis currently underway in Australia and suggests a way forward.

Artist Name: SANGEETA MAHAJAN

Artwork Title:

Medium: Photography

Size: 48 x 60cm

About the Artist:

Sangeeta Mahajan is a Brisbane based art photographer, specialising in painterly, fine art portraiture and conceptual, narrative photography. In the manner of the early pictorial photographers of the 1800’s, Sangeeta’s evocative images establish compelling narratives through a focus on composition, tonality, atmosphere, and the psychological power of her tableaux-like, figurative and/or inanimate arrangements. She is exploring painterly landscape photography that complements her existing style.

Artist Statement:

This experimental artwork is just a tongue-in-cheek play on an oft-heard phrase. Much like satirical literature, comedy and cartooning, I am exporing photography as a parallel genre for light-hearted satire.

Artist Name: DANIEL BUTY

Artwork Title: BACK STREETS

Medium: Acrylic on cardboard

Size: 140 x 120cm

About the Artist:

My love for paint and mark making can not be ignored. Evolving, chasing something that I am unsure of with the hope I will never find it.

Artist Statement:

Pushing paint as far as I can, just before it all turns to mud. Keeping it fresh and confident. Having depict a balance of both the natural world and the man made

Artist Name: CHELSEA BAKER

Artwork Title: KALEIDOSCOPIC SEEDPOD HARVEST

Medium: Painted seedpods, photographed, fine art print

Size: 63 x 87cm

About the Artist:

Chelsea invites us to appreciate the marvels that exist in even the smallest corners of our world, inspiring us to see the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary.

Artist Statement:

This Kaleidoscopic Seedpod Harvest Series features an array of handpainted seedpods, arranged by colour to create a beautiful rainbow of shapes and textures found in the Australian landscapes.

Artist Name: ALAN MAK

Artwork Title: COEXIST

Medium: Pen on 220gam paper

Size: 30 x 21cm

About the Artist:

My work are usually inspired by the possibilities of imagination. How at certain moments in life can be wonderful. I try to capture these images and emotions in my work to remind myself to be positive.

Artist Statement:

As i look towards the sky, land and sea. I fantasise about the the beautiful co-existence of technology (which provide us with so much comfort), and our beautiful landscape (that provide us much life and joy) . I wonder if both can progress without compromise the existing of either.

Artist Name: GRAHAM HOOK

Artwork Title: JOLLEY VIEW

Medium: Oil

Size: 49 x 69cm

About the Artist:

I have always like this view from GOMA and years back I decided to paint it. I finally did it.

Artist Statement:

I am trying to move towards Impressionist style, in my own way.

Artist Name: SYLVIA DITCHBURN

Artwork Title: MOSS GARDEN, CARNARVON GORGE, QLD

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 61 x 152cm

About the Artist:

I am a professional artist with 4 art degrees DFA, GDMC, MCA, PhD. Essentially an en plein air painter I have travelled throughout Australia on art safaris in search of subjects for my art. Awarded 50 art awards, held more than 58 solo shows, over 200 group exhibitions. Invited to show in China, Russia, Berlin, London, New York Paris, Budapest, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Townsville, Mt Isa, Cairns. Held in national and international collections. Judge of competition art shows in NQ. Artist in residence at Arthur Boyd Bundanon Trust, Uluru Resort, BeiGao/Redgate Beijing, Fushan China and more. Appointment to Arts Qld Council.

Artist Statement:

I am inspired by the natural environment for my work especially Australian Landscapes. I created Moss Garden after visiting Carnarvon Gorge. This is magical place set among the creamy sandstone outcrops. The beautiful green mosses created by the seeping water over the rocks and into the pool surrounded by lacey green fern trees was a subject I wanted to paint.

Artist Name: JOHN DONEGAN

Artwork Title: AZURE

Medium: Multimedia print

Size: 80 x 80cm

About the Artist:

Azure is from a collection of pieces [Evolution] that reflects my journey of finding peace in solitude. I recognise that this work has been made on unceded, stolen Yorta Yorta Country, and I endeavour to honour the victims of settlement by focussing on the remaining pre-colonial landscape of Yorta Yorta Country.

Artist Statement:

Azure is a number of photographs from different seasons layered over each other until I was satisfied the image encapsulated the various moods of the indigenous bushland of Yorta Yorta Country.

Artist Name: BRENDA

Artwork Title: BOWER OF BEAUTY

Medium: Oil

Size: 91 x 122cm

About the Artist:

When I retired to a beautiful property in the Tweed Valley, Northern New South Wales, some years ago, I was, at last, able to indulge in my passion for art by taking art classes. I spend a lot of my time outdoors in the rainforests and glorious beaches that abound in this area so most of my paintings are of seascapes and landscapes, especially rainforests. I am also inspired by the mysterious atmosphere created by misty early morning scenes where I live.

Artist Statement:

Mebbin National Park, is close to my home in northern NSW, and my many walks through the forest has inspired this painting. The park is sub-tropical rainforest with ancient fig trees and many walking stick palms. Because the Regent Bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus) is my favourite bird, and so beautiful, I have placed one in my painting.

Artist Name: RILEY PHILLIPS

Artwork Title: OUTAGE

Medium: Ballpoint pen on hot press paper

Size: 38 x 57cm

About the Artist:

Riley is an 18-year-old aspiring visual artist from Brisbane, Australia. His current practice merges observational and imaginary subject matter often within sketchbooks and journals where he creates nonsensical and nightmarish compositions depicting people, often masculine in appearance, who are apathetic, pensive, and proud of their solitude.

Artist Statement:

Following a power outage, I captured Roma Street Station frozen in time, allowing observation of the overlooked spaces that we move through amongst the complexities of everyday life. Tonal distortion of texture, shape and light are manufactured by ballpoint pen, creating a shadowy sense of desolation, both haunting and captivating.

Artist Name: BRIGIAT MALTESE

Artwork Title: FIELD GUIDE (SUMMER 2024)

Medium: Watercolour and Biro Pen in Concertina Album

Size: 17 x 150cm

About the Artist:

Field Guides is part of a series that start as plein air observations, studies, and experiences. For the past 16 years this has been on gong part of my drawing practice and is never-ending because each work is filled with rhizomatic potential, one work inevitably leads to the next. This drawing amasses a reserve of trees, expanding and interconnected so that the immediate experience of landscape is represented as an intimate kind of poetic and picturesque refuge.

Artist Statement:

Please view the artwork via this link https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FVy6odeI4H9c%3Fsi%3D99w-wTcW_ARxasmI&data=05%7C02%7Cbmaltese%40pymblelc.nsw.edu.au%7Cd689467935834210fb0708dc30441aca%7C1e8bd566f06f4b0a95bd9ba35dbcb937%7C0%7C0%7C638438316270900570%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Z12%2BJECu5U9ps3YZp1D0VvVFZkkNKZdEoYB0amFSV0g%3D&reserved=0

Artist Name: ALEXANDRA MILLS

Artwork Title: HEADLAND

Medium: Oil and Bluo on salvaged timber

Size: 20 x 30cm

About the Artist:

Alexandra Mills is a research-based mixed-media artist who works with, largely, found materials to evoke the character of subject matter. Her past projects have been based on museum collections, historic sites, specific locations and family artefacts. She is a recent graduate of the National Art School, Sydney.

Artist Statement:

Part of a series made during a residency on Sydney’s northern beaches in 2022 responding to scenes of coastal life with found materials affected by wind and weather, this work depicts a headland observed every day as a silent presence in the landscape bleached by sun and surrounded by sea.

Artist Name: BERNARDINE HINE

Artwork Title: SERENITY FALLS, BUDERIM

Medium: Mixed Media/Textiles

Size: 31 x 46cm

About the Artist:

The ever present burbling and gushing sounds of water flowing over a precipice becomes a chorus of watery musical notes, bringing freshness and life in abundance. The song of the waterfall is always the anthem of the rainforest.

Artist Statement:

Painted on fabric with fabric paints and coloured pencil, mounted on to watercolour paper then free motion machine embroidered with a variety of threads. Size unframed 18cm x 33cm

Artist Name: LEONIE MCINTOSH

Artwork Title: SUNSET OVER THE VALLEY

Medium: Oil

Size: 50 x 61cm

About the Artist:

I bring nostalgia and a feeling of 'comfort and home to my art. This can range from familiar packaging, to an old building that brings a pleasant memory to the surface for the viewer. If i make people remember something happy from their past, mission accomplished.

Artist Statement:

This is the view from the house I grew up in. My parents still live there, and in this piece I have captured another gentle afternoon as the sun sets for another day over the valley, sending warm hues and golden highlights on it's way.

Artist Name: KAREN COLLINS

Artwork Title: FRIDAY NIGHT AT HOWARD SMITH WHARVES

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 73 x 53cm

About the Artist:

As an artist, I have always found inspiration in the natural world and seek out beauty in cities. Throughout my life, I have had the good fortune to travel extensively, collecting images both in my mind and through my camera lens. These experiences provide me with an almost infinite source of reference images, which I use to create my oil paintings.

Artist Statement:

My painting aims to evoke a sense celebration and, in me, a sense of nostalgia for my younger days of working in the city. It is an ode to the communal joy found in the gatherings, the laughter, and the shared moments that characterise the Friday nights at Howard Smith Wharves. Experience the magic of a Brisbane evening beneath the Story Bridge.

Artist Name: CARLA PETRIE

Artwork Title: SUNNY SUNDAY IN THE SUBURBS

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Size: 40 x 30cm

About the Artist:

I’m an artist based in Brisbane but began my career at the Fine Arts School of Lima, Peru. As an avid participant in group shows I have joined a number of group exhibitions. Last year I showcased my portraiture work as a finalist in the 2023 Brisbane Portrait Prize.

Artist Statement:

This painting captures one afternoon, our backyard, our children playing in the sun. As a portrait artist I was interested in approaching landscape as a subject, captured in a moment in time, in an intimate setting deeply connected to it; albeit a moment of delight that is universal to all.

Artist Name: JOANNE KERR

Artwork Title: GOLDEN PASTURES

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Size: 91 x 121cm

About the Artist:

My art practise has always been based on drawings and sketches that are then developed into paintings, collages, or lino prints. I have discovered through my own artistic and personal journey with these ‘road trip’ paintings that as inspiration goes, drawings however small are the best starting points for my own re imagined landscapes.

Artist Statement:

‘Golden Pastures’ is a work honouring Western Queensland’s complex waterways and desert river habitat, a biologically significant area requiring protection, speaks of connection to the land. Experiencing this landscape, seeing the explosion of life was incredible. Sketches done in the landscape have been joyfully interpreted to describe an unforgettable experience.

Artist Name: J DAWG

Artwork Title: LIGHTS OVER THE BURNETT RIVER

Medium: Photography

Size: 118 x 84cm

About the Artist:

After spending time in San Francisco, I realized the best term to describe my photographic practice was as a “psychedelic photographer”. Not for psychedelics, but for the notion that visually it can encompass all my interests, street photography, landscapes, portraits, abstractions, telling stories or creating conceptual work with my camera.

Artist Statement:

Timeless and impressive lights whisper solid statements over the Burnett River for the camera and the camera exposes and amplifies those statements back, at the centre of Bundaberg near the Burnett Bridge. Running through the traditional Country of the Taribelang Bunda, Gooreng Gooreng, Gurang, and Bailai Peoples ,in Bundaberg, Queensland.

Artist Name: LINDSAY WEBB

Artwork Title: TASMANIAN ENTANGLEMENT

Medium: Pigment Print. No. 4 of 7

Size: 60 x 90cm

About the Artist:

I am an artist working with installation, sound and more recently photography/photomedia. I examine environmental conditions and attempt to chip away at the nature/culture divide by questioning the primacy of humanity on earth yet acknowledging the nurturing of human wellbeing through (re)connexion with the natural world.

Artist Statement:

In Mount Field National Park on a high moor landscape, two frames made of the same stand of trees are combined to form the image Tasmanian Entanglement, a complex choreography in slow-time - the apparent poor health of the trees in this seemingly pristine location suggest a struggle is at hand.

Artist Name: CHRIS HUBER

Artwork Title: BOATHOUSES, NAROOMA NSW

Medium: oil

Size: 90 x 122cm

Artist Statement:

came across this Inlet the boathouses with their colourful roofs caught my eye. The calmness of the water creating tranquility .Perfect place to capture the moment on a sunny afternoon.

Artist Name: CLAIRE KIRKUP

Artwork Title: CRYING JACARANDA

Medium: Acrylic/Vinyl on canvas

Size: 180 x 160cm

About the Artist:

I am an Australian contemporary painter focusing on modern experiences and I create works referencing land/botanical and figurative narratives. Persuaded and informed by my environment, I amplify these concepts using expressive irregular brushwork, line marking, layering, colour and form. I enjoy telling stories and showcasing the theatrics of normal life.

Artist Statement:

We have a huge Jacaranda that never fails to deliver a firework-style heart-stopping lavender bloom every December. The contrast of the seemingly teary violet petals, against suburbia and the joy it brings despite its crying façade, is the essence of this magnified interpretation of its cloaked hanging flower.

Artist Name: DIANNE SMITH

Artwork Title: GENTLE RAIN

Medium: Oil

Size: 76 x 102cm

About the Artist:

Raindrops descending on the water’s surface in my local creek capture intricate designs revealing the beauty of impermanence. Gentle rain creates delicate lacelike ripples that weave and dissolve randomly into captivating patterns and colours. These fluid circles blending with plant fragments highlight the elegance and complexity found in the fleeting.

Artist Name: BRENDON PATRICK

Artwork Title: LINES OF COMMUNICATION

Medium: Digitised Film on Cotton Rag

Size: 45 x 60cm

About the Artist:

I’m a local analogue photographer who has been practicing on multiple formats for the past several years. In the past 12 months, I have been making the transition in large format photography and alternative printing techniques.

Artist Statement:

This frame was captured via the entrance of the Bowen Hills train station. It was captured on a 4x5 film camera using portra 400 film in the twilight hours of February 2024

Artist Name: CAROLYN MCCOSKER

Artwork Title: PASTORAL LANDSCAPE

Medium: acrylic paint on canvas

Size: 79 x 79cm

About the Artist:

I love the challenge of expressing on canvas that in nature which others might consider invisible or non-existent. My paintings are nuanced with memories of childhood and nostalgia for times when life seemed simpler than today. Visual cues hint at stories hovering in the composition, waiting to be read.

Artist Statement:

The term ‘pastoral’ refers to Western farming practices of clearing forests to create pastures for grazing sheep and cattle. I have attempted to depict the folds and layers of landscape tamed and subdued by Colonial Farming practices. These landscapes carry a ‘settled’ beauty - at the expense of wild places.

Artist Name: FIONA CHIVERS

Artwork Title: SUMMER AFTERNOON IN THE HINTERLAND

Medium: acrylic on canvas

Size: 62 x 62cm

About the Artist:

My work is currently focused on contemporary landscape and seascape paintings in acrylic. My paintings are inspired by landscapes from within S.E Queensland, particularly the coastal and hinterland areas around the Sunshine Coast, where eucalypt forests, beach & tidal areas provide inspiration along with the farmlands and fields of the district.

Artist Statement:

"Summer Afternoon in the Hinterland" is a vibrant paddock painting which celebrates the beauty of the countryside and bursts with a kaleidoscope of colours, transforming an ordinary rural landscape into a mesmerising tapestry of hues. It evokes a sense of wonder and appreciation for the beauty inherent in the world around us.

Artist Name: HAZEL

Artwork Title: THE CREEK

Medium: Oil on Board

Size: 25 x 25cm

About the Artist:

My mission is to translate mood through vivid colours and intricate form

Artist Statement:

A feeling drawn from the searing Queenland summers sun, the stark shadows blot the floors. The swimmers encouraged to take the leap for the refuge of cool water.

Artist Name: SARAH WAGHORN

Artwork Title: LAZY SUMMER DAYS AT THE COAST WITH GRANNY'S JIGSAWS

Medium: Oil on Belgian Linen

Size: 50 x 40cm

About the Artist:

Sarah Waghorn’s interior artworks tend to describe the light coming into the space rather than the actual subject. Although deeply interested in furniture and furnishings, she wants to capture the mood of the setting through the available light and the way in which plays out tonally with the objects.

Artist Statement:

For as long as I can remember, there was always a jigsaw on the go which could sometimes take the whole span of the summer holiday. Many chats between family members about ‘Life and the Universe’ would happen in these precious moments.

Artist Name: CHANTÉ RANCLAUD

Artwork Title: FEELING BLUE

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 92 x 122cm

About the Artist:

Honouring the creative impulse, Chanté Ranclaud’s practice centres around paintings of geometric, organic, painterly and detailed forms. She works in the present moment, painting freely and being open to the serendipitous happening. Inspired by the beauty of Australia's Native Flora, Chante creates contemporary artwork that celebrate and captivate Australia's ancient landscape.

Artist Statement:

‘Feeling Blue’ shows the contracts between life and death. Lively banksias dance in the foreground, dead gumnuts hang above. Created with the intention to draw upon the important survival of Australia's Native flora, the fear of the beautiful landscape being anchored to the past. “This painting mirrors my recent experience of suddenly losing my only brother. This piece represents loss, the journey of emotions that follow and the course of putting oneself back together."

Artist Name: TAMARA BEALE

Artwork Title: POEM FOR THE DISCARDED

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 76 x 60cm

About the Artist:

Tamara is primarily interested in the narrative within artworks and how people are connected to place; to this end, many of her works centre around her home of Wynnum and surrounding areas of Brisbane.

Artist Name: PAT HALL

Artwork Title: BUSH DANCE

Medium: Watercolour

Size: 137 x 91cm

About the Artist:

Pat Hall’s large scale watercolours are inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds us every day. Her stretched paper canvases are sealed with a UV stabilised and waterproof coating. She floods her paintings with colour, breathing new life into the medium.

Artist Statement:

Eucalyptus leaves, dancing in the breeze. Absorbing and reflecting our pervasive Queensland sunlight, they perfectly illustrate our country’s unique and varied landscape.

Artist Name: MARLIES OAKLEY

Artwork Title: AN AUSTRALIAN STORY IN 147 EPISODES

Medium: Collage inside Vintage Letter Tray

Size: 54 x 98cm

About the Artist:

I’m a Collage Artist - My works are intricately hand cut using whatever I can lay my hands on, with each image being used only once, the artworks are totally original and are caught in a “time and place”, intermixed with social commentary and personal stories

Artist Statement:

Snippets of Australian life captured through the lens of an immigrant, depicting the land with humour, stereotypes and nostalgia. In a world that at times seems cruel and evil, it shows the things that make us smile and feel good about the land we live in.

Artist Name: MICHAEL GALLAGHER

Artwork Title: DOWN BY THE BRISBANE RIVER

Medium: oil on canvas

Size: 60 x 120cm

About the Artist:

Michael Gallagher's art, spanning portraits and landscapes, mirrors his environment. Untethered by trends, he crafts for personal fulfillment. With subtle narratives, his pieces provoke introspection. A multidisciplinary artist, Gallagher's creations evoke silent contemplation, offering viewers a glimpse into his unique perspective."

Artist Statement:

I invite viewers to absorb the scene without bias or judgment, allowing their emotions to flow freely. Pushing the boundaries of traditional landscapes. My aim is to present a narrative while eliciting genuine, unfiltered reactions from those who engage with my work.

Artist Name: JOHN MORRIS

Artwork Title: TIME & TIDE

Medium: wood, metal, acrylic, paint

Size: 28 x 81cm

About the Artist:

A sculptor's approach to the landscape. Not a two dimensional depiction but a recreation of a piece of it, cut out, cut into, exposing what lies beneath the surface.

Artist Name: CATRIONA GALBRAITH AND SUSANNE SWANN

Artwork Title: AFTERMATH

Medium: 'Rubbish’ and Op Shop mixed media (material, leather, wood, metal, plastic), fire, bleach, thread & oil sticks

Size: 1800 x 900cm

About the Artist:

Suzanne and I recently started collaborating on environmental works made from ‘rubbish’ and sustainable materials. Instinctively, we are drawn to different poles of the pretty – ugly aesthetic. We found our balance, but still never know what the other will suggest which is fantastic. CG

Artist Statement:

Scavenged ‘rubbish’ and Op Shop bargains were merged to create an abstract landscape representing the aftermath of a devastating bushfire. Panels (‘trees’) with linking chains reinforce that not only are environments and communities interconnected; but as temperatures rise, they are also increasingly ‘captive’ to the destructive force of fire.

Artist Name: MICHON COLLINS

Artwork Title: WATTAMOLLA LEMON SKY

Medium: Oil on Calico

Size: 70 x 110cm

About the Artist:

Sitting on the cliffside of the Royal National Park, I attempt to paint my attraction to nature. I witness a tapestry of rocks that drape alongside the ocean, erupting waves that are inviting yet also terrifying. And the engulfing sky, always serving as an exclamation mark to a beautiful day.

Artist Name: RACHEL RAE

Artwork Title: BRONTE SWIMMERS

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Size: 120 x 90cm

About the Artist:

Colour, movement, patterns, memory, connection are captured in Rachel Rae’s ocean themed paintings. Awestruck by the colours of the Australian landscape – The rainbow of coloured rocks, the patterns of the water, Rachel transports the viewer to these moments in time – Hearing the waves, feeling the breeze, smelling the salty ocean.

Artist Statement:

Bronte Swimmers documents the movement of the water, waves, swimmers, reflections, perspective interacting for this moment in time in the landscape. But I was advised that in the artwork the pumphouse is missing a poster, so this artwork also documents a time in history for the Bronte Baths Landscape.

Artist Name: BRUCE J OWENS

Artwork Title: A TIME FOR REFLECTION

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 83 x 83cm

About the Artist:

A largely self taught artist with an affinity for the beauty in our surrounding landscapes and seascapes.

Artist Statement:

This piece was created from an early morning stroll through Southbank Parkland , Brisbane. Amidst the lush greenery of this tranquil oasis is a reminder of natures calm amidst the morning urban rush .

Artist Name: PETER RUSH

Artwork Title: IT'S NOT BEAUTIFUL. WHY DO YOU DRAW THAT?

Medium: Pen and pencil on paper

Size: 71 x 58cm

About the Artist:

The works are recordings of found places. Not in an analytical deductive way but to capture the mood and energy of a place in a spatially dynamic way. The works take particular enjoyment in intimately placing the observer amongst the ordinary, spaces that are fleetingly seen and disregarded.

Artist Statement:

A lucky reflection of light while drawing amongst the bins in a yard behind some shops.

Artist Name: JULIE MCCURRY

Artwork Title: MURRAY RIVER NEAR SWAN HILL

Medium: Oil on Board

Size: 14 x 24cm

About the Artist:

During the winter of last year, I was able to explore and experience the Murray River near Swan Hill. Majestic river red gums flanked the shores. In contrast to the vastness of the river, I completed a 9 x 5 oil on board painting.

Artist Statement:

This artwork reveals a section of the Murray River near Swan Hill with majestic red gums lining both sides of the river.

Artist Name: CHRIS GRIST

Artwork Title: NIGHT COUCH

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 51 x 41cm

About the Artist:

I’m fascinated by unnoticed beauty in everyday life. I explore the hidden layers of urban life, focusing on objects that are mundane and unusual in one. I am interested in the unseen visual language of the city, drawing parallels to the complex layers of paint I employ to render them.

Artist Statement:

I was drawn to this discarded couch, warm and inviting while out of place and discomfiting at the same time. Bathed in light from multiple street lights and casting overlapping shadows in different directions, the couch encapsulates the comfort of the suburbs with their hidden, unknowable reality.

Artist Name: HELEN R DOUGLASS

Artwork Title: SUMMER STORM ON THE ARTHUR PLAINS

Medium: oil

Size: 40 x 100cm

About the Artist:

I am a landscape artist based in the Tweed Valley NSW using in oils and acrylics. My art journey has been based on an active outdoor life which has allowed me to find inspiration for my work in nature and I aim to reflect that enjoyment in my paintings.

Artist Statement:

This work is from a bushwalking experience in Southwest Tasmania. From the vast button grass heaths of the Arthur Plains and looking back to the range an intense storm is brewing. Open and exposed to the elements I wanted to convey the feeling of being so insignificant in this landscape

Artist Name: MIKE STANIFORD

Artwork Title: FIELD OF BREATHING COLOUR

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 125 x 125cm

About the Artist:

I like the unfinished look of a work suspended in its development, perhaps making the image inaccesible for a first viewing. How much do you have to qualify in a painting, even though it refelcts a figurative approach. I am playing with spaciality - the relationship between colour, lateral space and depth.

Artist Statement:

I wanted to capture the enduring flatness of Kelton Plain as an abstraction from nature, totally non-referential arrangement of colours and forms, deliberately leading the painting a long way down the spectrum towards abstraction. The manner in which I paint determined by following my thoughts to the final destination.

Artist Name: KIRSTY GAUTHERON

Artwork Title: RECALLING PEER GYNT'S MORNING

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 125 x 105cm

About the Artist:

I draw inspiration from vast, remote spaces that foster reflection and an appreciation for nature’s beauty and wonder. My artistic process involves intricate layering of acrylics and mediums to create texture and depth. Mastering light is pivotal to evoke profound emotional connections to my work.

Artist Statement:

On a tranquil early morning walk, I encountered this captivating scene. I was transported by the sense of space, the ethereal glow of dawn and the delicate frosty grass. I was reminded of the uplifting classical music ‘Morning’ by Peer Gynt, a cherished melody from my youth.

Artist Name: KATE DOUGLAS

Artwork Title: HOME AT LAST

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 51 x 61cm

About the Artist:

Kate Douglas paints highly detailed reproductions of how she sees the world. She is known for her labour-intensive artworks with unique compositions and viewpoints. Intimate glimpses of nature and reminders of bygone days are recurring subjects, reflecting her focus on environment and preservation.

Artist Statement:

This is the bedroom in Maye’s Cottage, a historic house museum in Logan furnished with the family’s original belongings. As the curtains drift gently in the breeze it is easy to take a step back in time and imagine life at the turn of the century.

Artist Name: KRIS ESTREICH

Artwork Title: MOBILE LANDSCAPE.

Medium: Mixed media; wire, plastic, artificial foliage, plaster bandage and acrylic paint.

Size: 30 x 27cm

About the Artist:

This sculpture is a metaphor for an urban environment that is dominated by cars. It represents an urbanscape that is fragmented, dispersed, tied up in ownership and divided by boundaries. Nature has become a commodity that is sold and transported to new locations.

Artist Name: SCOTT BENNETT

Artwork Title: HIGHLAND LACE

Medium: Oil & acrylic on linen

Size: 92 x 126cm

About the Artist:

If we were to revive the fable today, the territory remains now, only as shreds across the map. “It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts which are no longer those of the Empire, but our own. The desert of the real itself.” - Jean Baudrillard

Artist Statement:

My questions – standing there – were the kind that have prosaic answers. But what was this other mystery, this swirling plasma of whiplash curves and tongued forms, this singularity, this multiplicity?  That was why I’d gone there, to seek a mystery, not to answer it – even if I could – but to experience it.

Artist Name: LYDIA R HICKS

Artwork Title: OCEAN POOLS II, AVALON BEACH

Medium: Acrylic on board

Size: 93 x 93cm

About the Artist:

I create art on Guringai country, Avalon Beach, blending the soothing rhythms of nature, built environments, and wellbeing. My paintings focus on capturing the interplay of light and shadow with reduced complexity. My artistic goal is to challenge mental illness stigma through my creative work and lived experience.

Artist Statement:

These havens from surf and rips offer a sanctuary of calmer, shark-free water. I’m drawn to the collision of the built environment against powerful seascapes. I’m fascinated by angles, perspectives and shadows cast by edges and rails. The colours reflect beauty, promote wellbeing and a calm experience for the viewer.

Artist Name: CATHY YARWOOD-MAHY

Artwork Title: BROOMS HEAD BEACH

Medium: oil

Size: 91 x 153cm

About the Artist:

Cathy has a particular interest in landscapes. Her work captures the ethereal aspects of the natural world in either her atmospheric semi abstract work or in her realistic paintings where she incorporates a high level of detail. Her use of light has a pivotal role in creating impact and mood.

Artist Statement:

This painting of Brooms Head, New South Wales, is an example of my recent landscape work which focusses on capturing transcendent moments in nature. The beach at sunset offers wonderful opportunities to capture spectacular skies and reflections in the shallow water which is an enjoyable and rewarding challenge.

Artist Name: ROXANNE LILLIS

Artwork Title: VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 1

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 117 x 117cm

About the Artist:

since suffering the devastation of losing everything in a bushfire, making is cathartic; bleeding into my sensibility. I make as I observe the regenerating virgin bushland. The resulting pieces are simultaneously philosophical and literal. My intention is to create ambiguous organic forms. The ambiguity opens diverse interpretations. Whimsical yet solemn.

Artist Statement:

This painting was created following a series of sketches on our acreage of virgin bushland. My studio overlooks the regenerating bushland and the slow return of fauna. Acrylic paints were applied in layers attempting to capture not only the recovery, but the history of trauma following the fire.

Artist Name: JUDE ROSE

Artwork Title: PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

Medium: Watercolour and pencil on birchwood panel triptych

Size: 35 x 120cm

About the Artist:

I love to stroll around Wentworth Falls Lake, being the only lake, being the only body of water in the upper mountains. The crisp clear morning light is captivating, it is a place to withdraw and meditate, to breathe in the mountain air, and to paint. This work is from my impressions rather than reality, of feelings and the delight it brings to me.

Artist Statement:

Originally dammed to supply water for the steam railway Wentworth Falls lake has become a recreation area and home to an array of water creatures. Over the years the water has been polluted by human development but still the beauty remains and it has become my walking and sketching sanctuary

Artist Name: JUDITH BOYES

Artwork Title: UNDERSTOREY

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 101 x 76cm

About the Artist:

My practice focuses on painting gardenscapes set in the sub-tropics with its seduction of palms, scented flowers and foliage. I want to capture the mystery, beauty and aesthetics of being in a garden. Colour and texture, dark and light within a garden translates into emotional feeling which is what I’m trying to achieve on canvas.

Artist Statement:

I painted this after a holiday in central Brisbane. The pink background reflects the ambient temperature during my stay which I found pretty hot at 34 degrees C. I was grateful for the understorey of Brisbanes planted streetscapes, and public gardens with their shady canopies, an adventure through colour and space.

Artist Name: LAURENCE KING

Artwork Title: LIGHT THROUGH THE LEAVES

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 90 x 120cm

About the Artist:

I made a return to painting professionally after moving to Tasmania from western NSW in 2015 where I had taught for 30 years.I’ve sought to present my local environment of bush and coastline with a fresh vision while still remaining truthful to the quintessential feel of the Australian landscape.

Artist Statement:

‘Light Through Leaves’ represents the moment where I settle into stillness and just observe. This painting represents the navigation of a difficult subject for me, that of finding a satisfying resolution to the layered complexity of the Tasmanian bush.

Artist Name: JACLYN POKE

Artwork Title: WHERE THE WILD THINGS GROWS, CRADLE MT NATIONAL PARK

Medium: acrylic on canvas

Size: 90 x 120cm

About the Artist:

I am a painter with a fine arts degree, teacher and art therapist who lives on the NW coast of Tasmania. I create abstract Impressionist seascapes of local scenery, where I build layers of memory into my work; so that texture and pattern narrate the history of a place. I have had various group and solo shows around Tasmania, Brisbane and Melbourne, and I’m continuing to build my arts practice through connecting and developing stories of this island’s rugged landscape.

Artist Statement:

“Where the wild things grow. (Cradle Mountain National Park).” The tantalizing wilderness of Cradle Mountain is something that you need to behold; it cannot be encompassed in words. This wilderness is a sacred place, hidden from the world at large. The irony of this of course, is this place is Tasmania’s most popular tourist destination. I am knocked back into the reality of this when I walk along the timber board walk that stretches through the ‘untouched’ wilderness. I like to imagine being here before the notoriety, fully immersed in the wild, raw beauty. I also enjoy creating pathways as a focal point in my work. They are often symbolic of life’s journey; continuing to embrace the process whilst pondering what is ahead.

Artist Name: DAILAN PUGH

Artwork Title: GORGEOUS PURNULULU

Medium: oil on linen

Size: 122 x 91cm

About the Artist:

Dailan Pugh OAM is fascinated with Australian environments in all their variety and complexity. He seeks to identify their inhabitants and understand the processes that shape them, including those threatening their survival. He works for their conservation and through his artwork seeks to reveal some of their beauty.

Artist Statement:

In Purnululu National Park, conglomerate formed from ancient river pebbles creates deep gorges stained by iron oxide. Incongruously, nooks and crevices are festooned with fan palms, and occasional strangling figs, an echo of when this was a rainforest. Great Bowerbirds have a penchant for white and green, including bleached bones.

Artist Name: CATHY USATOFF

Artwork Title: VIEW FROM MT. SONDER LOOKOUT - WEST MACDONNELL RANGES. N.T.

Medium: Acrylic on linen canvas

Size: 123 x 123cm

About the Artist:

Cathy Usatoff is based in Melbourne and has been painting landscapes since 2019. Inspired by the diversity of the landscapes on the Mornington Peninsular in Victoria she paints with rich pallets of bold, vibrant colour the beautiful vistas of the wineries, rural paddocks and Australian coastal bush.   Cathy is a self taught painter in both acrylic and oils. Her painting process is intuitive and spontaneous with colour being paramount to her expression.   Cathy’s interpretation of the landscape lies between observed reality and translating it with the evocative power of colour. Painting from memory, this allows her the freedom to exaggerate colour, space and compositions that evoke an energy and a sense of place rather than recording a specific location.

Artist Statement:

This work is based on a view from the Mt. Sonder Lookout when I was on a painting trip to the West MacDonnell Ranges N.T. in 2022 and 2023. It looks toward Orminston Gorge and a section of the Larapinta trail and the Finke River. It is one of my favourite views. The outback is known for its dramatic colours but during the day despite the harsh light, in the afternoons, there is a softness and more subtle array of colours to observe. Along with the soft texture of grasses and flowering natives underfoot, I responded to this view with luminescent ochres and muted colours of violets, pinks and greens. My interpretation of the landscape lies between observed reality and translating it with the evocative power colour and I felt that this landscape was inherently a feminine one.

Artist Name: BRITTANY BLACKIE

Artwork Title: THE SCAVENGERS

Medium: Oil on wood panel

Size: 40 x 30cm

About the Artist:

Brittany Blackie was born in Auckland, New Zealand but is based in Brisbane, Australia where she is currently in the early stage of her art career. Her work expresses an interest in the dark beauty of nature, along with the craftsmanship of historical artefacts, to create imagined worlds.

Artist Statement:

This painting is an imagined scene inspired by the ancient moss-covered rain forests of the Scenic Rim. The forest, dark and wet from constant rain, and its intricate and varied formations of moss, my imagination was steered towards the mysteries and wonder of worlds within. This scene of the forest-floor is depicted as a hidden place where time has stood still and long forgotten memories are left to decay.

Artist Name: MIKE WALL

Artwork Title: FROM MT VIC II

Medium: Archival Inkjet Print

Size: 77 x 150cm

About the Artist:

I seek to document land use and the condition of the environment through the practice of landscape photography. The composition becomes a record of the landscape over a period of time.

Artist Statement:

This composition has been made with 630 separate images taken with an infra-red converted camera mounted on a programmable robotic head. This is a method I have been using a number of years to document the environment around me. A false colour palette has been added.

Artist Name: CARMEL MONTAGUE

Artwork Title: DRY JULY

Medium: Oil on Board

Size: 305 x 610cm

About the Artist:

Exploring places and moments in time, Brisbane artist Carmel Montague is inspired by the landscape and the sky that frames it. In places both real and imagined, she is particularly drawn to light and colour, capturing the mood these evoke and the memories they recall.

Artist Statement:

The landscape of the Southern Downs region of Queensland has long been a favourite source of inspiration for me. This work was inspired by the landscape observed during a trip to Warwick in July 2020. Despite the constant presence of clouds there was not a drop of rain to be had from them.

Artist Name: ELISE JUDD

Artwork Title: THREADS OF BELONGING

Medium: Acrylic and stitching on canvas

Size: 133 x 133cm

About the Artist:

In my art, I strive to convey the profound beauty and complexity of existence through colours and intricate compositions. Each piece is a journey into the depths of human emotion and experience, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and find solace in the shared threads of our humanity.

Artist Statement:

"Threads of Belonging" intertwines the essence of home with the serenity of the natural world. Through scarlet threads stitched over the traditional landscape, this painting captures the intimate connection between place and identity, inviting viewers to contemplate the profound sense of belonging found within familiar landscapes and cherished memories.

Artist Name: OTTO SCHMIDINGER

Artwork Title: GLITTER

Medium: OILS

Size: 61 x 122cm

About the Artist:

I am drawn to paint interesting corners where nature interacts with water, always changing and challenging.

Artist Statement:

Logs washed against the bridge pylon collects leaves and foam, the sunlight is spreading glitter to the mix.

Artist Name: ALAN INNES

Artwork Title: RACHEL'S GARDEN

Medium: Pen and pencil on heavy drawing paper.

Size: 42 x 30cm

About the Artist:

Alan Innes is a Brisbane artist with a 50 year design background in architecture, urbanism, landscape and graphics. His work includes sketches and hybrid drawings depicting local street views. His sketches appear in World of Urban Sketching by Stephanie Bower published in USA in 2022. He has been invited as an urban sketching demonstrator to AsiaLink Sketchwalk 2024 in George Town Penang.

Artist Statement:

The drawing, manipulated to include all the salient features of the garden, was originally going to be called SUNDAY LEFTOVERS in reference to the mismatching socks on the clothes line. By the time the drawing was finished, I realised that it was really a story about the garden’s maker … Rachel.

Artist Name: GARRY DOLAN

Artwork Title: INTO THE DISTANT BLUE

Medium: Oil paint

Size: 120 x 90cm

About the Artist:

I paint subjects that make me stop and take a moment to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. I see myself as a constant observer, recorder and story teller reminding myself and anyone that wants to spend time looking at my art that the world is not all bad.

Artist Statement:

'Into the distant blue', painted from a scene on Hans Heysens property in South Australia. As a young artist, Hans Heysen was my hero and I feel incredibly humbled painting on his historic property. 120cm x 80cm $11000 AUD

Artist Name: DE GILLETT COX

Artwork Title: TOMORROWS ARE NOT PROMISED

Medium: Acrylic on polyester

Size: 30 x 90cm

About the Artist:

De is a QCA Griffith Honours College Graduate (2012) who persistently explores our world on canvas with robust acrylic textures and a palette of brilliant colour. Motion and meaning, splendour and awe are captured in colours of exuberance across her canvases.

Artist Statement:

Entropy reigns supreme in an increasingly tropical landscape. Anthropomorphic climate change in a world ever more assaulted by plastic pollutants is here negatively painted in garish, overbright plastic paints on a polyester plastic canvas.

Artist Name: GRANT QUINN

Artwork Title: AFTERNOON GLOW AT MOOGERAH

Medium: Photography

Size: 73 x 53cm

About the Artist:

With a love and appreciation for the arts, Grant believes this passion has given him the knowledge, ability and desire to create beautiful and professional artwork, by looking at the world through artist’s eyes. Learning to experience life with such insight, has given Grant a different perspective in what he views, now seeing shapes, shadows, light, colour and beauty, in things he never noticed before. Resulting in Grant turning to photography as his medium of choice.

Artist Statement:

With an endless colour palette, our natural environment has the ability to create an endless supply of artistic opportunity. ‘Afternoon Glow at Moogerah’ allows the viewer to be transported to a place of peace and solitude.

Artist Name: KATE GORMAN

Artwork Title: CASCADE

Medium: Acrylic on linen

Size: 91 x 76cm

About the Artist:

My art reflects my interpretation of the landscape around me and my experiences in daily life. I invite the viewer into a happier space- giving them a hint of my interpretation of the subject matter- then urge them to complete the story. My hope, is that my work will trigger a personal experience or memory or connection to a special place.

Artist Statement:

‘Cascade’ was inspired by the North East Victorian landscape during Spring. New life is emerging after another cold winter: the birds are singing, the pastures are flourishing, trees are bursting into bloom while the many creeks and streams are rapidly flowing.

Artist Name: JUDE HOTCHKISS

Artwork Title: WINTER LANEWAY TWO

Medium: Acrylic on poly canvas

Size: 64 x 64cm

About the Artist:

I am using everyday scenes to make unique compositions, where abstract painting is brought into a more representational style. The back lanes of the inner city laneways of Newtown Sydney do not have cars, and offer a V shaped perspective that gives the composition depth and direction.

Artist Statement:

The architectural features of my inner city back lanes make interesting and atmospheric compositions. There is a vibrancy in the ordinariness of this abstracted everyday scene, with the structure of trees and heritage buildings and weathered walls making this a unique arrangement.

Framed in floating oak moulding.

Artist Name: CYNTHIA HOUSE

Artwork Title: ELUSIVE

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 76 x 76cm

About the Artist:

Australia

Artist Statement:

Australia

Artist Name: ALISON MURPHY

Artwork Title: PROMISE

Medium: Oil

Size: 53 x 76cm

About the Artist:

The soft blue grey distance and colours of the Australian landscape challenge me to create artwork that conveys Australia’s unique light. I am inspired by the works of the Heidelberg impressionists among others. My work is traditional in style using oil on board or canvas, and at times pastel.

Artist Statement:

Our lives are forever changing as is the landscape. Storms come and go leaving fresh growth and Sunshine.

Artist Name: HOWARD SEARCHFIELD

Artwork Title:

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 122 x 180cm

About the Artist:

While I enjoy painting many subjects, it is seasapes that have commanded most of my attention and devotion. Being led by a love of nature, the ocean and an attempt to capture on canvas the majesty, mystery and powerful beauty of this ancient entity.

Artist Statement:

This painting is from one hot, late afternoon at Rainbow Bay. I stood watching the sunlight dancing across the crystal clear water as the tiny waves lapped the shallow shoreline, shining silver on the surface and illuminating and radiating the beautiful Tourmaline green ocean. The pink reflections and the hypnotic patterns in the cool shallow water, forever etched in memory. n ocean. The pink reflections

Artist Name: EMMA GLEADHILL

Artwork Title: UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT, BUSHMANS RETREAT MOTEL, SOUTH GUNDAGAI

Medium: Watercolour paint on paper

Size: 30 x 42cm

About the Artist:

Inspired by the vedute, or view-paintings, of the eighteenth century, I get my audience to look twice at local spots by capturing a moment of past and present. My watercolours capture light and shade, colour, symmetry and movement in the built and natural environment without letting go of inconspicuous details.

Artist Statement:

On our way home from a vacation, my husband and I stopped at the service station in Gundagai. Across the road my eye was caught by this 1950s motel: its bright yellow paint and tall palm tree, standing out like a sore thumb against the soft brown Australian paddocks.

Artist Name: RAELEAN HALL

Artwork Title: INFLATION

Medium: Oil

Size: 110 x 90cm

About the Artist:

Expanding horizons of resting objects on sandy shores, my recent trip to the pristine coast of Mystery Island, Vanuatu (April 2023), presented a local beach vender hiring inflatables by the hour to a shipload of Aussie tourists. This summed up our delight in peculiar objects of fancy & interest in the “current” landscape.

Artist Statement:

In the current climate, we’re all floating along in a sea of inflation. On the pristine shoreline of Mystery Island, Vanuatu, a local beach vender hires inflatables by the hour to a shipload of Aussie tourists. This summed up our delight in peculiar objects of fancy & interest in the “current” landscape.

Artist Name: ELIZABETH MEAD

Artwork Title: AUSTRALIAN CHORUS

Medium: oil on canvas

Size: 46 x 106cm

About the Artist:

I am an abstract landscape painter, my work is gestural and the canvas often densely patterned, the shapes, colours and sounds of the scene determine the qualities of each work. I have an Advanced Diploma in fine Art, was a finalist in NEAP. Muswellbrook and Gosford Art prizes.

Artist Statement:

Modern yet epic, the composition evokes a Greek chorus. The chosen limited palette captures Australia's heat and harsh dry winds. Tree shapes seem hastily drawn dabbed scribbled and stretched with knife and brush marks. The scene was captured late last year when I was exhibiting in the town of Tamworth.

Artist Name: PIP MILTON

Artwork Title: A CITY, SOMEWHERE

Medium: Drypoint etching of handwoven fabric and monoprint on watercolour paper with free-motion machine embroidery and sashiko stitching

Size: 67 x 94cm

About the Artist:

I am a handweaver fascinated by warps and wefts, especially those of recycled origins, their limitless potential of interlacements in the creation of fabric and their concomitant stories. Overflowing into printmaking, I marry these disparate crafts to capture the essence of my weaving, the movement of fabric and inevitable mending.

Artist Statement:

As a handweaver fascinated by warp and weft interlacement in the creation of fabric, I notice my imagination interpreting the world around me, as I do fabric. Warps and wefts stack upon each other like bricks. Bricks create buildings, little woven buildings creating an imaginary city.

Artist Name: DANIEL BARANOWSKI

Artwork Title: TURNING AND TANGLED

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 102 x 152cm

About the Artist:

My work seeks to explore ideas and representations of “the landscape”, and the meanings we attribute to what we see, and what we think we see. I am interested in an awareness of seeing and experiencing the landscape, and exploring human concepts of time, landscape and the interaction between them.

Artist Statement:

What is Time? A moment to breathe; a moment more, and then the sun breaks through and sets the landscape alight. Here, in this moment, Now, the nothofagus blazes forth in its most exposed, most brazen magnificence…What is Time? Time is everything when it is running out

Artist Name: LINDY SALE

Artwork Title: FOREST SONGS

Medium: oil on panel

Size: 81 x 61cm

About the Artist:

Lindy Sale lives in the hills on the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Her work is strongly influenced by her proximity to a dense forest with its sounds, its structural complexity and subtle colour variations.

Artist Statement:

My studio is surrounded by forest that is dense and complex, varied and lush. The deeply shaded understorey shelters saplings and ferns, ginger plants and spiralling vines. Looking up to the tall treetops into the bright sky, the view blurs as if in a haze.

Judge’s Comment:

This work captures the heavy atmosphere of tropical Queensland.

Artist Name: GABI MIKA MCNAUGHTON

Artwork Title: BRIBIE BILLABONG

Medium: oil on cotton

Size: 152 x 101cm

About the Artist:

Mika-McNaughton’s a Queensland based artist that predominantly focuses on landscape. Her practice is driven by her obsession to deliver something to her audience. “I paint for the enjoyment I get from seeing people responding to a particular work, and to satisfy my need to explore the environment we exist in”.

Artist Statement:

Red Beach on Bribie Island north of Brisbane is my creative candy. I am obsessed with the untamed wildness that harbours native flora and fauna in abundance. This Billabong appears restful, but on further inspection the tranquillity is interrupted by a deafening hum of life preparing for the night ahead

Artist Name: SAM ASKIN

Artwork Title: SUNSET WALK AT SOUTHWEST ROCKS

Medium: Oil on canvss

Size: 51 x 61cm

About the Artist:

Sam is a Townsville based emerging artist specialising in soft pastels and oils. He likes to capture the otherwise overlooked moments that represent the intersection between the natural beauty of Australia and human influence. His work Sam's work is influenced by his love of the beach and connection to family.

Artist Statement:

Not every stunning sunset is backed by an inspiring story or an artistic exploration of place. In fact, most of mine aren't. This one is backed by a parental desire to show my kids the beautiful of the NSW easy coast, much to their apathetic disgust. Yet in the end, what you capture is a combination of that beauty and the chance to share it with the people you love most. The best of both worlds.

Artist Name: CRAIG ADDLEY

Artwork Title: BRUNSWICK HEADS AFTERNOON

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 82 x 122cm

About the Artist:

Craig's paints detailed scenes of the Queensland and Northern NSW coastlines, capturing the light, colours and shade of these unique coastal environments. He has been painting and exhibiting for close to two decades and his paintings are held by numerous public and private collectors within Australia and overseas.

Artist Statement:

This old, weathered timber bridge connects Brunswick Heads to the beach. It is an iconic part of the memory and experience of family holidays here. Simple memories of jumping into the creek, walking to the beach and coming back with the glow and warmth of the setting sun on its timber boards.

Artist Name: SHARON BARRY

Artwork Title: TOWER OVER ROOFTOPS, WODONGA

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 76 x 76cm

About the Artist:

I am an award winning artist currently living in Wodonga, North East Victoria. My career in art started with a Graphic Design apprenticeship. I completed my studies with RMIT Printing School in Melbourne. At the end of my qualification I was awarded a scholarship to study anything of my choosing. which was colour theory, oils, acrylic, watercolour and life-drawing, at the Melbourne School of Art. I have always painted from a young age, but more seriously since 2019.

Artist Statement:

This painting reflects the inexorable march of change. Background hills is a legacy of the pre-colonised landscape and home to the Dhudoroha people. The decommissioned water tower still stands, an iconic landmark for locals today and for over 300,000 post-war migrants that came through Bonegilla camp, (Eric Bana's parents amongst them.). Clotheslines stand empty in backyards of offices, once homes, and many other stories, visible and invisible, are woven throughout.

Artist Name: LOU DERRY

Artwork Title: CUMULONIMBUS II

Medium: oil on canvas

Size: 80 x 80cm

About the Artist:

As a keen traveller, walker, and beach dweller I am constantly seeking those environments that drive my artistic pursuits. Being in the landscape is essential to experience the weather as it wraps itself around and envelops us. I aim to capture these seasonal transitions and atmospheric conditions of the weather in our vast magnificent skies.

Artist Statement:

In Tropical FNQ the wet season is inescapable; stifling heat, oppressive humidity, and an unsettling sense of foreboding. This painting aims to encapsulate the sultry atmosphere and ominous silence that invariably forms the pivotal moment before the monsoon storms break. Within the turbulence is an uneasy tension alongside a contradictory calmness, a suspended anticipation.

Artist Name: GABRIELLE POOL

Artwork Title: RABBITS CINEMA

Medium: Oil on Linen

Size: 150 x 150cm

About the Artist:

Gabrielle Pool draws much of her inspiration from various remote landscapes across Australia, New Zealand and Africa. Often incorporating natural ochres and pigments in her work, these media are sourced from the very landscape surrounding her- even utilising the soil at her feet as she images the landscape.
Gabrielle is currently travelling across the southern coast of Australia producing her next body of work en plein air.

Artist Statement:

‘Rabbits' Cinema’ is a painting about the grand view I imagine rabbits have at sunrise, with a cusp of dawn light filtering through swaying grasses in the soft wind, the rabbits just gathered together absorbing the glow, appreciating the world's enormity.
Inspired by views from Cherry Creek Estate, Queensland and the original 1978 film ‘Watership down’

Artist Name: RICK BARDSLEY-SMITH

Artwork Title: LIZ & NIC'S WALL

Medium: Watercolour

Size: 52 x 74cm

Artist Statement:

The old Freemantle Prison. A landscape of layers, time & texture. Of order, decay & human expression. The windows speak of an inner space where someone lived. The bars are rusty but dominant, purposeful. The timber, brickwork, render and paint are in decay. Yet this is a palette for expression for those who visit now.

Artist Name: DARREN KING

Artwork Title: CLUB

Medium: Paper collage and acrylic paint on canvas

Size: 61 x 76cm

About the Artist:

I get bored easily so my subjects jump constantly but my recent work generally involves a combo of collage and painting. These pieces are not simply blending a couple of other peoples images to invoke a different meaning. My collages construct a new layered, textural interpretation of my world.

Artist Statement:

My landscapes celebrate the forgotten, neglected or abandoned spaces around us. The focus of this piece is an old shed used for pigeon racing, which sits next to a tennis court and kids playground. Layered paper elements and paint mimic the corrugated metal covered in graffiti.

Artist Name: WENDY JAGGER

Artwork Title: BLUFF

Medium: Oils

Size: 93 x 193cm

About the Artist:

Strongly influenced by seasonal changes in the landscape and the diversity of native flora, especially in rugged alpine, inland, and coastal regions of Australia, Wendy Jagger’s paintings and ceramics capture her response to being in, within and of the land. Her work is held in public and private collections.

Artist Statement:

The mountains of Victoria’s High Country surround my home and studio, giving me a sense of place, peace, and inspiration for my visual language. Trips into the mountains after Covid lockdowns felt like an escape, and this trip up to the Bluff, was a moving experience.

Artist Name: PHILIP HICKINGBOTHAM

Artwork Title: CANDLESTICK AND LANTERNS

Medium: oil on canvas

Size: 122 x 92cm

About the Artist:

Philip, an accomplished artist, has exhibited his work in numerous competitions and galleries across Australia, including the NGV. His artistic practice delves into landscapes and portraiture, with his paintings often capturing scenes from significant journeys he has undertaken.

Artist Statement:

The Candlestick, the final destination on Tasmania’s Three Capes Hike, captivates with its dramatic view. Amidst incredible rock formations and cascading cliffs, I was awestruck after hiking for four days to reach this destination. The play of light danced upon the rugged surfaces, revealing hidden textures and hues.

Artist Name: PAUL WHITEHEAD

Artwork Title: THE LOCAL WATERING HOLE

Medium: Watercolour on panel primed with absorbent ground

Size: 67 x 118cm

About the Artist:

Travelling extensively in Australia and abroad provides me with unlimited inspiration and material for my art making. When home, I take every opportunity to go bush to paint and take photos. Mt Remarkable, in the Southern Flinders Ranges, is one of our favorite stop offs on the journey north.

Artist Statement:

Steve, the retired cattle dog, trots past the local on his way home, indifferent to the excited bark from the ‘rookie’ on the back of the ute and the incessant chatter of the galahs. A few patrons savour their well-earned coldies under the veranda of their favourite watering hole.

Artist Name: MARIANNE DE BEUZEVILLE

Artwork Title: A BIG GREEN TREE AND WATER RUNNING FREE

Medium: oil paint on round wood panel

Size: 90 x 90cm

About the Artist:

My art practice focuses on the landscape of the far south coast where I live. Climate change is evident in my daily observations of the natural environment and in my works. My practice includes photography, painting, and sculpture. The black summer bushfires intensified my response to my local environment.

Artist Statement:

This painting reflects the changing environment in which I live. The colours of the evening skies, the clouds and rain, the pine trees that are struggling to survive.

Artist Name: SARA TURNBULL-TURIA

Artwork Title: CHORUS OF THE COCKATOOS

Medium: Acrylics

Size: 79 x 79cm

About the Artist:

A predominantly self-taught artist although while in Abu Dhabi Sara benefitted from the mentorship of a well-known Emirati artist there; later taking part in exhibitions. Nowadays Australian landscapes inspire her greatly. Her coastal works represented by Mist Gallery. She alternates with vibrant botanical pieces at The Moree Gallery. Sara strives to capture movement plus atmosphere of place while evoking a sense of serenity.

Artist Statement:

Early birds by nature, we headed out in darkness to the lookouts over the valleys. Lit by torchlight we rushed along the tracks to catch the spectacular sunrises over a week-long vacation. Before the magnificent colours burst over the hills the mist gently rolled up the sides of the valleys and the sounds of the birds resonated from the depths below. A magical experience and the highlight of our first venture to Blue Mountains National Park.

Artist Name: ROBERT DUJIN

Artwork Title: SEAFORTH GULL

Medium: Oil on linen

Size: 79 x 102cm

About the Artist:

Robert Dujin lives and paints around Sydney. He held two solo shows and exhibited in numerous group shows and is currently working towards his 3rd solo show with Dickerson Gallery at Woollahra.

Artist Statement:

This painting evolved into a windswept outdoor work with a seagull navigation

Artist Name: DAVID KAS

Artwork Title: EVERY PATH HAS ITS PUDDLE

Medium: Oil&Wax

Size: 120 x 120cm

About the Artist:

Drawing on nature's sublime and aesthetic qualities, my paintings celebrate the mysticism of the landscape – the spirit concealed in matter.

Artist Statement:

My painting "Every path has it's puddle' is a nostalgic ode to my artistic beginnings as a landscape painter, after a recent return to the area that inspired me decades ago. The limitless beauty of the Hawkesbury region's sandstone rock formations evokes a sense of ancient presence and natural wonder.

Artist Name: DAVID GRIFFITH

Artwork Title: BIG HOLE BEHIND COLLINS STREET

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 107 x 61cm

About the Artist:

David completed art school in 1999 but only recently returned to sustained studio-based practice. He works in oils, watercolour and acrylics. Drawing is fundamental to his painted mark. He is interested in slow looking and exploring how we see and make sense of the world around us.

Artist Statement:

This work is part of a series recording a city in transition. It explores the voids, excavations and scaffolding that are necessary preconditions to reimagining and reconstructing old spaces and buildings. It seeks to record that transitory space and time before it is built over and replaced by something new.

Artist Name: MINHAN CHO

Artwork Title: CLOUDS OVER MT. GLORIOUS

Medium: oil

Size: 60 x 71cm

About the Artist:

Korean artist Minhan Cho's journey from pottery in Seoul to furniture-making in Melbourne led to a transformative immersion in nature upon his relocation to Moreton Bay in 2018. Focusing on developing techniques and visions, Minhan creates dynamic landscape paintings that invite viewers into his unique perspective shaped by diverse experiences.

Artist Statement:

In this painting, I aimed to convey an aerial sensation, employing techniques like wash, thick palette knife strokes, and bold brushwork across multiple layers. Through diverse marks, I sought to evoke a sense of depth and movement, inviting viewers to experience a dynamic aerial perspective.

Artist Name: ISABELLE DEVOS

Artwork Title: THROUGH FIELDS OF GREEN I CAME TO KNOW YOU

Medium: acrylic on birch panel

Size: 50 x 60cm

About the Artist:

I am captivated by the abstract qualities found in landscapes, such as the curve of a hill, the diagonal path of a road, and the elongated shadow cast by a cluster of trees. My work often explores the human connection to nature and our attempts to control and influence the environment.

Artist Statement:

A place where the elements align to invite you further into the landscape.

Artist Name: JORDACHE GAGE

Artwork Title: LIMINAL

Medium: Synthetic Polymer

Size: 81 x 111cm

About the Artist:

Through a process of play and mark making my studio practice draws on the child’s lens to reimagine common themes such as the mundane, environments and nature, migration and transition, as well as human connection.

Artist Statement:

This urban space rests in a dynamic tension, grappling with the memory of what it once was Yet, this landscape reconciles the traditional opposition between the urban and the natural, organic and machine. Here, the city and the wildly beautiful converge; two distinct worlds bleed into one.

Artist Name: HAMISH WILSON

Artwork Title: THE VIEW FROM WHERE WE ONCE MET

Medium: Oil Painting on MDF Board

Size: 40 x 80cm

About the Artist:

Hamish Wilson is an emerging artist residing in Brisbane. His works are primarily figurative oil paintings and self-portraits that exude gestural brushstrokes and often incorporate short poignant phrases of text. The aim for his work is to be easily accessible and explore themes of self perception, loneliness, masculinity and relationships.

Artist Statement:

Based on a film photo of UQ Lakes - a place I often would sit at with my ex-girlfriend. Looking back on this landscape always brings me a feeling of melancholy nostalgia. It’s hard to seperate a person from a place when certain memories are so viscerally linked.

Artist Name: FIONNA MARY MADIGAN

Artwork Title: AIREYS INLET

Medium: oil painting

Size: 65 x 54cm

About the Artist:

I am drawn to a fertile zone between abstraction and realism, and I am particularly satisfied when my paintings straddle these genres. I commence with compositional goals and encourage random occurrences. Improvisation and transience are integral concepts to my creative endeavour.

Artist Statement:

Aireys Inlet, home of the Wautherong people, where the rolling hills meet the sea, reminds me of Ireland, home of my ancestors. In this painting I endeavour to bring multiple visual perspectives, a sense of both permanence and transience as our individual histories I imprint and interact with the landscapes with which we engage.