Image: 2012 How the Waratah became Red. Charcoal on paper. Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre Collection.

My work has evolved enormously since I started my journey in art.
At first, I focused my efforts on drawing and still life, which I still love to this day. There is a beauty and stillness in the drawn line which I find very captivating, it is immediate and full of memory, especially charcoal. If you rub out a line, the paper still retains the memory of the mark. It’s evidential.

However it was when I moved into the Hunter Valley about 17 years ago that my evolution of a painter really began. The Hunter Region boasts such diverse and incredible landscapes. My backyard is literally my inspiration board. It was therefore a natural progression that I started to pay attention to my surroundings.

Once I developed my brush mileage, I grew in my confidence as a painter (and as a person). Living within the landscape meant that, in between taking care of my babies (now 13 and 17 years!), I could steal time with my paints and sketchbook and create artworks inspired by what lay outside my window or in the back paddock. As a result an en plein air practice developed and is the basis of my work today.

Image: 2015 Early en plein air attempts in my backyard with homemade pochade box

I truly believe that colours, textures, light are all different when you paint in the landscape. You can’t get this energy from working solely from photos. I want my work to reflect the emotion and passion I feel when I am in these unique landscapes. The Australian Bush is special, the sky is high, the light bright and directional. Our foliage can be harsh and unforgiving at times, yet also delicate and fragile. This duality is captivating. My en plein air work is at times the work itself or at other times are studies for larger studio works. I always aim to maintain the same passion and direction regardless of painting outside or inside.

Much like our landscape, I seek strength and bravery in the work. Palette knives help strengthen this intention, which I couldn’t find using brushes. My love for palette knives, as an art making tool, was a chance happening while painting in the back paddock on a very large work.
My 120 x 90 cm work was leaning against a tree, when suddenly the wind caught the edge and flipped it over. In a state of total frustration at seeing the work covered in dust and dried leaves, I reached for the palette knife to scratch the debris away. After a little while, I stood back to look at the work and realised I adored what was happening to the surface. The wet paint pushed and pulled on in a magic way, it was this moment that I fell in love with the knife.

Images: The painting which started my love of the palette knife.

There is a bravery in the process which constantly stretches and challenges me. I’m naturally an introvert and regularly work on my self-esteem. As the knife is so immediate and directional, using it encourages me to be confident. When I overthink a work, the paint and marks lack confidence, plus scraping paint off is expensive and time consuming! To avoid this on my larger works, I invest time in smaller studies and work towards the final piece.

Images: 2022 impasto studio work for ‘Infinite Never Never’ Exhibition at Art Systems Wickham

My studio work is heavy in impasto paint and demonstrates my passion for both the landscape and the act of painting itself. Over time, my work has evolved toward a technique of luscious thick paint, evoking a skin-like sensation. This application is intentional, for me it speaks about humanity’s place within our environment. The Australian environment isn’t gentle or soft, it is passionate and at times harsh with fires, drought, and floods. Due to where I live, I experience this every day. My work seeks to demonstrate the union of paint application and emotional connection using contemporary painting techniques. I want to push the ideas of paint and create a visceral and tactile sensation for the viewer. I want the viewer to crave touching the paint, like they are touching the landscape.

I don’t think I will ever come to a point where I say “I have arrived and I’m satisfied”. I will always be pushing myself to explore.
This is the journey… and so the evolution continues…..

Yours in art,
Bec xoxo

A Painterly Evolution