A.J.Taylor

’m just settling into my new studio. Essentially, it’s a big shed that’s been divided into two spaces. Out the back is a large area for preparing surfaces. It can be a messy process, involving a lot of layers of paint followed by heavy sanding, which I do outside. In the front half of the studio all the finished surfaces are stacked behind floating walls ready to be used for future paintings. There are now four of these painting walls which allow me to work on several paintings at once.

Alison Mooney

Most often, my studio paintings in this ongoing ‘suspense vs. anticipation’ series, emerge from varying points on a pendulum between compositional, or colour, agitation and resolution.

‘It’s a moving meditation, with moments of chaos throwing it all up in the air and then, like the way an explosion shoots energy far and wide, I get to decide what gets reined in and what gets another blast.’

Beatrice Prost

My paintings and hand carved aluminium artworks explore our lands and seas seen from high above or down below. From rivers to reefs, my art is fuelled by patterns, repetitions and organic geometries in nature. Capturing the essence of life and topographies in a non-representational way. Painting or carving with an extensive use of dots, lines, shapes and patterns harnesses the organic powers of life. My aim is to create works that inspire awe and wonder in our everyday life, transferring my passion through my unique dreamlike body of works.

Blair McNamara

7PM: Someone puts on some familiar guitar music. The kitchen is a mess of sunburnt hungry kids. The overgrown backyard is an abstract canvas of untamed banana leaves, surfboards, discarded towels, cane toads and open cars. Sunset is a faint glow and everyone out on the verandah is relaxing. There are now mosquitoes. Someone is sent away to look for the coil. Everyone is talking over the top of each other. The dog up the road has stopped barking. Like a naive ritual, the noise rises and falls, broken occasionally by laughter. Everyone celebrates the casual relevance of the situation.

Brian Keayes Mobius

My art is a response to the natural environment in which I live and the people who inhabit it. I’m deeply influenced by learnings from the First Nations custodians who hold the ancient knowledge of their lands.

I share these projections as a display of my digital field notes and an evolving understanding of my explorations. I am drawn to divine geometry, and I employ mathematical equations and Artificial Intelligence to expand my digital language, and play with visual representation. I use these influences to amplify messages of sustainability and universal truth.

 Carlie Johnston

I’ve always felt to be an artist at heart, but it wasn’t until I was in my late 30’s that I found the confidence to truly explore and share my creativity. My studio is my personal sanctuary, where I let my mind wander and watch my ideas evolve. I thrive on turning concepts into tangible forms, finding both challenge and reward in the process. It’s often the simple tasks like tidying up or scraping dried resin which clears mental space for creativity to flourish. I might spend weeks contemplating my surface before I start, embracing the uncertainty of the final outcome. Working with resin and pigments, I focus on trusting the process, layering and adjusting colours to build depth and contrast. It’s a journey that has taught me to trust myself and embrace the unexpected.

Colin Pennock

This is a calm familiar place to make work. As thoughts come from the process of painting. The music and colours I choose are connected to where I’ve been and help the work evolve. I watch for movement in the paint. I notice flashes of colour - birds, flowers, nature around the studio. A play of thought begins. I have conversations with the paint to naturally connect to my emotions.

Gabrielle Jones

My work references Art History, mostly Baroque and Rococo eras and Abstract Expressionism, and evidences a mash-up of styles, marks and forms which is essentially an exploration into what paint can do-specifically, brush strokes become an equivalence of feminine textiles and adornments. The aim is to encapsulate the energy of both eras and yet create something different and unique.

I view the studio as a place of adventure, enjoying the process of artmaking - the accidental, the risk and control - in an event that responds to the studio music played (contemporary and classical instrumental compositions, mostly) other sensory and psychological input, and the energy levels available

 Helena Jackson-Lloyd

I am a Sunshine Coast based visual artist.

My work is inspired by the natural environment, with a particular interest in exploring the patterns, cycles, rhythms, and energies that weave a ‘wild place’.

I work primarily en plein air, walking, listening, observing, sketching, drawing, and painting directly in the landscape.

A process that allows me to connect and explore the essence of a ‘place’.

I bring this material back into the studio where I interpret my studies and memories creating large scale abstract landscape works – ‘wildscapes’.

The studio is a safe space where I feel free to explore and experiment with my subject matter and materials.

James Stickland 

To paint is to breathe, it’s the discovery of techniques, the passion that makes you forget time. To be able to manipulate pigment into a story on canvas and bring it to life, challenging but fulfilling. Every portrait I do has a life of it’s own and the style, technique and procedure vary accordingly to suit what feeling I want to provoke. From glazing to scratching, impasto to wiping away or multiple studies before I proceed to winging it on the go, each painting will steer you in the right direction. I live to paint.

 Jandamarra Cadd

Art for me is never just about the art itself or the end product. The subject, medium, style etc serves as an invitation to something far more expansive.. A catalyst to activate the heart of our very humanity. When we walk into the forest and experience the Kookaburra the butcher bird, the magpie, the whip bird, the crow. We go wow what a beautiful symphony.. So much there for us to learn and understand how far we have deviated from this way of looking at and experiencing each other and our surroundings.. My pieces are an invitation into something that unites us as opposed to dividing us.

One heart One people One mob.

 Jan Williamson

Art, for me, is a process stimulated by life and the world around me, my work comes from a fleeting thought or vision in my mind. Then the challenge, mixed with passion, that it has to be put onto paper or canvas. Seeing beauty and colour in all things, especially people, flesh colours, shadows and light falling on anything inspires me, my brain is continually mixing colours to obtain this effect, so as I work in my studio, I am always amazed and excited at what colours emerge.

Jess Le Clerc 

I fell in love with art for two reasons, it calms my mind to sit and observe life and try to reproduce what I see and feel in paint and sharing that experience with others gives me a connection to others, expressing what I feel is most important in this human experience and giving it to others to share. I predominantly paint figures in landscape because being in nature has been one of the great anchors to my personal healing and life story. Nature, both human and landscape delivers me a wild spectrum of temperature, soft edges and moving ideas that are so beautiful to study. This year I am spending a lot of time in Australian landscapes, the Overland in Tasmania, Orminston Gorge in the NT, the Kimberley in WA. My paintings will reflect that experience

Joolie Gibbs

Deliberate, controlled and very time consuming, is how I describe my artwork. The mindful processes I go through from making my botanical inks from trees on my property to the final mark making on the paper keeps me going. It makes my heart sing.

I am happy to be called parochial as I am influenced by my natural surroundings through the connections with the Mary River, the Wallum, my 5-acre property and the region. In my own small way I aim to be part of the solution rather than the problem.

 Judith Laws

Quote by Sandy Pottinger

“In Judith’s artwork colour is not the background - it is the painting”

I paint intuitively from my ideas and my imagination. After I have chosen my colour combinations I often start with big bold brush strokes in black or rough splashes of colour, rough and loose as a background, keeping original composition. I over paint many areas until I get the effects in colour and density I am looking for. Mark making and calligraphy are a part of my oeuvre. For me painting has always been a passion.

I believe it is the feeling behind and beyond the colour that demands a response.

Judith Sinnamon

“There are days when the sun’s glare washes out the colour,

and the light with it, and days when cloud does. Light decides it.

The bush is a medium for light. The effects on our senses are

unpredictable, subtly mutable, aleatory. Light rules.”

Don Watson

The Bush. The play of light and the way it flows across and defines surfaces is what my painting practice is about.

Through the sculptural qualities of paint I play with colours, mixing and laying brushstrokes, wet into wet across vast linen surfaces.

My subject is the magnificent trees of the Australian landscape. I’m drawn in particular to the palette of outback flora and that of coastal wallum as they share a more muted and delicate palette, often described by European settlers when first experienced as ‘drab’, but to me incredibly rich and exquisite in their subtle luminous hues. This of course broken by the occasional delightful punch of native flowers in blossom.

My studio is designed with high windows to replicate this flow of light. I work directly from the subject of branches suspended above my easel and arranged to capture this flow.

I also work from images taken in that nanosecond of first light when colours are at their most luminous before the harsh Australian sun washes them out to a palette of light and dark.

 June Sartracom

Inspired by the modernist legacy and reductive visual language, my practice investigates the interplay of light, space and perception through minimalistic, geometric drawings and monochrome ‘relief’ paintings.

Reliefs, or surface modulations and protrusions, seek to heighten the viewer’s spatial awareness by impinging into the shared surrounding space, attempting to subvert the illusionary gaze associated with paintings.

Time in the studio unravels at a much different pace; playing with the marvels of geometry, conditions of light and allusions of perception continually drives my creative curiosity.

Underlying the simplicity of finish is a complex and intricate process of contemplation and construction, that always starts with a simple square. The foundation shape in much of nature’s complex geometry.

Dr Kellie O’Dempsey

My work is in constant flux, and I’ve come to realise that change is at the heart of my practice. Whether through performance, drawing in the studio, or drawing performers live, I am drawn to the vitality of the ever-shifting present. This mutable state—whether a drawing still in progress or a mark suspended between potential and realisation—embodies transition. Charcoal, lines, video, and light all move toward a moment of transformation, where the work becomes not merely an image, but a gesture, a movement—a fleeting embodiment of the transformative power of being.

 Kevin Wilson

Creating art has always been a way for me to conceptualise my place in the social and natural world. Whilst I’m physically present in my images, my works do not specifically focus on personal exploration or self-portraiture. Instead, they explore my position as a male within society and nature. This conceptual positioning also influences the choice of media I use and how l use it. Therefore, when making work l am exploring ideas and pushing the naturalised boundaries of representational mediums such as photography, film, and installation

 Kurun Warun

Art,dance and didge have been a part of my life for a long time.

To me they are all the same, just another extension of my being.

 Kym Barrett

I make richly layered abstract paintings that emerge slowly from my absorption in the creative process. I build and excavate paint to arrive at something new and unexpected. The work reflects my observations and recollections of living in bushland as well as being expressions of a mysterious unfolding of soul.

I want there to be more there than surface consolation.

I’m interested in the complex entanglement between this creative process and the spiritual path. My long-term study of contemplative wisdom traditions and meditation practice informs my life and work. At the heart of both, is the search for deeper ways of knowing and being.

‘Art enables us to lose ourselves and find ourselves at the same time.’

(Thomas Merton, 20th century mystic and poet)

 Lauren Jones

My studio is my sanctuary. Not a place I come to work but to investigate. I find joy in the ‘making’, losing myself in the materiality of paint. The outside world melts away for a few hours and my quiet focus adjusts to the liquidity of the oil paint. Colour mixing and drafting the bones of a painting happen in a flow state. I paint in a single sitting and it’s a rush to get all the paint onto the surface. It’s a satisfying feeling, stepping away from the canvas and looking at a finished piece for the first time. It’s like a question has been answered and my racing thoughts have settled and all fallen into place.

 Libby Derham

Since I can remember, I’ve been capturing observations of the world through drawing. It was a turning point when realising I could treat my brush as another tool for drawing, marking the start of my painting journey. The essence of watercolour flows through my being, a legacy of ardour passed down through my family. The thrill of seeing pigment and water blend excites me as I apply colour. Energy comes in the form of marks, made by a collection of my favourite tools. Painting becomes a meditative experience where I immerse myself, guided by my inner soul, fostering a deeper connection to my subject.

 Lisa Morgan

My studio is a place full of intent and excitement for what lies ahead. I follow no particular process, surprised and wary when a painting travels well, waiting for a wind change to take it to a place I do not fully recognise. I often attempt to hold on to parts of a painting I love, usually to the detriment of the whole piece. Only when I let go and feel nothing about that loss do I begin to dive deeper and find resolve. For me the turmoil is very much part of the process, the lessons learned when a painting is complete usually centre around ‘what was’ and now ‘what is’. I call it detachment.

 Michael Pugh

In 1971, I came to Buderim where I set up my first studio. After 16 years in a very basic and improvised studio, I built a new studio further up the hill. At the same time, we planted a garden which has grown up around my space and almost engulfed it. We have bamboo groves, lotus ponds and many beautiful trees that inspire my work daily and form the foundation for the studio. I have been here for 54 years now and feel the environment is very much conducive to the elements of imagination and inspiration. Pottery is more than just making pots and firing them. It has been a journey that has filled my life in so many ways. I love glazing and decorating. My style is a collage of images and drawings. I have no walls or windows, and the wildness falls through. Here, I feel I’m home.

Nicole Voevodin-Cash

Creating with interaction as a sculptural strategy transforms the process into a dynamic dialogue between the artwork and its audience. This approach allows the work to be continuously reshaped and redefined by the behaviour and engagement of those who encounter it. As a multidisciplinary artist, this method breathes life into my creations, making each piece a living, evolving entity. The audience’s participation becomes a sculptural tool, molding the experience and imbuing the work with a collective energy that reflects the interconnectedness of people and place. This collaborative creation fosters a profound connection and a deeper understanding of the artwork’s context and significance

 Odessa Mahoney-De Vries

I am intrigued by the materiality of paint and the process of layering to discover unexpected compositions and colour combinations. My style is easily identifiable by the bold expressive brushstrokes and marks that drip, crawl, and land on the surface. By using oil or acrylic paint on canvas, wood, ceramics, and paper I have started to think about paintings as three-dimensional objects. This simple shift in my perception of painting has led to an indulgence of textures and gluing objects together. What I love is the push and pull between painting what you know works, or completely disregarding it.

 Pam Walpole

The source of my work often springs from a natural or man-made disaster, like a flood, fires, or the destruction of bushland. The drama is the catalyst and triggers my need to paint.

I’m attracted by shapes, form and contrast and I let my initial brushstrokes do the talking, followed by intuitive marks and gestures, maybe pushing a line in another direction - adding a layer - deleting detail until I’m satisfied and my subconscious says stop!

 Petalia Humphreys

My studio houses a making process that calls upon a family tradition of creativity and woodworking. My ancestors include artists and designers – in addition to carpenters and cabinet makers. I have discovered a history of skilled creatives who craft objects that help us move through and define familiar domestic spaces. These inherited practices reveal themselves in my work. Concerned with site, architecture and the perception of light and space my playful 3D paintings explore illusory shifts in dimensionality. I enjoy working with expanding and collapsing space, inviting the viewer to experience the multiple dimensions in which these works exist.

 Peter Hudson

“ My paintings and drawings are a 50/50 mix of studio work, and plein-air landscape paintings

I feel very lucky to have two studios, one in the back yard at home, and the other is anywhere in the

Australian bush. I love them both equally.” Peter Hudson

 Rex Backhaus-Smith

Dr Jill Brannock quotes,

“Rex is a complex man, painter, poet, - a man of vision and artistic integrity - a lover of outback Australia”.

My subject matter is as far reaching as my travels believing my work is an honest interpretation while reflecting my way of life in this ‘Wide brown land’.

I believe we are on the planet for a whisper of time and artists are capable of freezing “art time” slow it down, so that the viewers can look and really see.

 Saren Dobkins

How do I feel working in my studio?

I have painted for over 30 years, in whatever space I found myself: from bedrooms to leaky sheds. I have been in this studio, designed by my father, Walter Dobkins since 2019. This offers me the space where I can be utterly myself. I work here every day, painting or writing. I can express my ideas, experience a profound sense of connection to my sense of self and the stories that I want to explore and understand, in a beautiful, tranquil and inspirational place.

 Simone Eisler

I am passionate about understanding nature, and in my pursuit, I deconstruct it in order to creatively reconstruct it. As a child, I used to dissect small animal organs outside my father’s veterinary surgery. Now, as an adult, I study the structures of animals and plants and use that knowledge to create artwork. I’m particularly interested in the evolution of the natural world, its connection to human storytelling, family history, and how it is adapting to human-induced climate change. Much of my artwork has a political message expressed in large-scale installations but more subtly through such devices as fairy tales.

 Sine Black

Charcoal and chalk pastel are the media I am currently exploring.

I brought the pots and leaves in from the garden and arranged them on the studio table, stood back and saw that they had taken on a new persona. They were standing to attention as if about to embark on a grand performance with a chorus of leaves dancing in the breeze.

I tried to capture this drama by using strong contrast of light and dressing up the pots in bright colours

I normally work in paint and my subjects vary but include landscapes and interiors

Stefan Dunlop

My references are predominantly classical, mixed with pop and contemporary imagery.

In practice I work closely with these references, using drawing, projection and painting to produce the works. There is minimal pre-planning or study preparation, everything is worked out on the canvas, over time.

I work on several works at once, seeking to obtain intuitive and spontaneous resolutions. There is an element absurd in the compositions.

I’ve recently worked through a series of paintings that reference art history towards a new series of work based on a fragmentation of space, form, imagery and colour.

 Susan Schmidt

I love my studio … for what it allows, rather than what it is.

A safe place to find myself, forget about and make sense of life.

A short walk from favourite subjects, and offerings of sticks and leaves for mark-making. The creative process begins in situ, fostering deeper connection.

Open and light, my studio spills into a courtyard and garden. Welcoming the outside in, and with it visits from Water Dragons, Currawongs and Butcherbirds.

Time here is solitary, but I never feel alone.

 Trevor Purvis

My starting point has always been the love of outback travel, not just the painting. Searching out the inspiration leads to plein air studies on paper that feel, smell, experience the scene. Then armed with a wad of acrylic sketches, a painting eventually emerges in oils back in the studio. One can see immediately when an artist has not experienced the subject that they have painted. No soul comes through.

Shapes first, followed by colours that surprise, mark making that surprises, the mistakes and accidents that delight. I am the ‘accidental painter’ in so many ways.

I love this process

 Yanni Van Zijl

Ceramic sculpture is what I do whilst imagining larger works or installations.

It offers time and space for day dreaming, my happy place where I get out of my head.

My hands a servant to the clay, together we push and pull each other to a result neither of us knew when we began. They say it is not the destination, rather the journey.

The eternity symbol plays homage to the infinite, nothing stays the same. We are, as is everything in constant motion.

These sculptures are a meditation in flow, energy and acceptance, the clay has limitations and I push it as far as I can whilst seeking harmony and balance within the work.

The quiet contemplation leads to voids within the pieces, it is these empty spaces that the magic resides.

 Zartisha Davis

Zartisha Davis was born in Nambour (1990), a Kabi Kabi woman descending from the Mooloolaba Chilly family, of the Mooloolah and Meridan Plains people. Her songlines also include belonging to the Cobble Cobble people of the Burrungam Nation also known as the caretakers of Bonyi (Bunya Mountains) and on her fathers side belonging to the Butchulla (Badtjala) people from K’Gari (Fraser Island). She also has South Sea Islander descent from New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Zartisha was apart of the Refinery program cohort 5.0 and also Project Lab and Project 24 September 2023 residency. Her Shell Middens piece was also short-listed in the 2023 Yepang Emerging Art Prize and Exhibition.

Zartisha is passionate about her culture, dance and artwork and she will often depict Shell Middens, stories from her family, Saltwater tribe and country in her artwork. Zartisha is also apart of the Jinibara and Bonyi Gari dance troupes.

Her passion for art is one that is prominent in her family coming from a long line of artists and song men and women. Zartisha is a proud mum of Nullen and created the brand of shirts “Autistic and Deadly” in celebration of him and all kids on the Autism spectrum to create awareness, acceptance and to promote feelings of empowerment, and it is his inspiration that carries through her work.