Snakes, Spiders and a Painter’s Eye
“Rebecca is an incredibly talented artist who has an innate ability to capture the very soul of the valley. I feel as if the land is speaking to me through her use of colour and texture on canvas-they remind me of home every time I gaze upon them and they evoke the heat, the intense storms, the very essence of the amazing landscape that is the Hunter (Australia). I love my paintings so much and feel privileged to have them in my home. I know I will collect more in the coming years.”
Jan 3, 2020 Diary Entry
I close my eyes and feel the sun’s warmth on my back, the wind circling through the grass, and the rhythmic sweep of my brush. There is nothing more tranquil, more wildly free, than being in the Australian bush, painting its splendor.
The thought of one of the world’s most venomous snakes lingers in the back of my mind, yet the vast plains and majestic skies always pull me in, enticing my painter’s curiosity. Australia’s bold color palette and raw, visceral textures are a feast for the senses—a landscape that demands to be painted.
Painting en plein air is not always easy. Insects, spiders, and snakes are ever-present thoughts as I sit among the tall grasses, capturing the land before me. But I relish the challenge—translating the wildness and beauty of this place onto canvas, expressing its emotional weight. My brushwork is instinctive—at times rough and untamed, always energetic and free. This is not a landscape to be romanticized. Unlike the soft, moody skies of Europe, Australia’s light is bold, vibrant, and often unrelenting. It is a landscape of intensity, and I seek to reflect that same raw beauty through my alla prima technique.
This land is not manicured or restrained; it is unpredictable, untamed—like a wild Australian brumby. If my paintings feel dramatic or foreboding, like the sky before a storm, it is because I want the viewer to experience that same pulse of nature’s power.
I invite the viewer to pause—to feel both the smallness of being human and the awe-inspiring reality of existence. In a world consumed by the discourse between science and religion, we seem to have forgotten something essential: we are not separate from nature. No matter how much we learn, how much we build, we remain part of the land—woven into its story, just as it is woven into ours.
Yours in Art,
Bec xx
