Creative Artist

Michelle is a nature artist from Brisbane who has just spent the last year living in England and travelling throughout Europe. It was an amazing experience for her in so many ways, but from an artist’s perspective, it was an invaluable opportunity to immerse herself not only in the art and culture of the cities, but in the wilderness and nature that she loves so much. Drawn to wild and remote places, Michelle visited an amazing variety of landscapes over her time away - ranging from the frozen world of the Swedish Lapland hundreds of kilometres above the Arctic Circle, to the jagged Monserrat mountains in Spain; from the rugged coastline of Cornwall to the wind-swept Orkney Islands and the Isle of Skye, which looked as though it could have…

Materials List • Canvas 120 x 75cm • Bristle brushes flat ¾”, flat 14 • Sable brushes 5/0, 0, 1, 2, 4, 6 • Taklon detailer 5/0 • Sable liners 2/0, 5/0 • Bosch heat gun • Art Spectrum Odourless Solvent • Genesis Heat-set Permanent Satin Varnish • Genesis Heat-set paints: – Titanium White – Phthalo Blue – Cobalt Blue – Payne’s Grey – Permanent Green – Dioxazine Purple – Burnt Sienna – Bismuth Yellow Step One With wildlife paintings, I like to be very accurate with the features and proportions of the animal so that it is represented authentically and realistically. However, with a subject like waves, although I like it to look as though you could feel the splash, I can afford to be a bit looser! Consequently, I roughly sketched in the shape of the waves by freehand. I used a large 120 x 75cm canvas.…

The wealth generated by gold and a burgeoning agricultural hinterland, coupled with a general sense of optimism that permeated the colony of Victoria during the 1880s were the main factors behind the timing of the Gallery’s founding. This boom-time ethos caused the arts to flourish throughout the young colony. This was the decade when Tom Roberts, Fred McCubbin and Louis Abrahams founded what would in time be perceived as Australia’s first ‘national’ school of painting - the Heidelberg School. Within five years, they had not only started building up a great collection of art, but had erected a purpose-built art gallery on a site in the centre of Ballarat. Ballarat was not the only gallery to have been founded in regional Victoria in the late nineteenth century, but it was one of…

Vicki Sullivan grew up in Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria in the 1960s, when Sorrento was a small town where everyone knew everyone in town. Her father’s family has lived in the area since the 1840s, and there were plenty of cousins living nearby, and the children had a very free life, roaming the beaches and horse riding. Always interested in artistic pursuits, Vicki was encouraged by her maternal Grandmother, Jean, who always said if a child has an interest in something to foster it. Jean was an amateur artist herself, supplying Vicki with pencils, paint and paper, and was a huge influence on Vicki’s early life. Vicki’s family supported her decision to study full time Art at Frankston Technical College, now Monash, which had a fabulous art course and…

Materials List Materials • Good quality Belgian Linen (I now always use this) • Art Spectrum paints: – Yellow Ochre – Light Red Oxide – Alizarin – Cadmium Red (Light) – Indian Red – Ivory Black – Flinders Blue Violet – Titanium White (Williamsburg) – Cassel Earth (Old Holland) • Medium Linseed Oil • Solvent White spirit for washing brushes only • Brushes: – Escoda large hog hair for background – Holbein hog hair series K round large – Rosemary Brushes series 279 long flats 4, 6 8 – Neef Flat Stiff Synthetic series 95 size 12 or 14 – Rosemary sable brushes Step One Mix up the background colour and scrub it in roughly all over the background with your biggest round brush. I use my big Escoda brush for this. Then, with a rag, roughly rub out the shape for the figure, then scrub in the darkest shadow skin colour…

The first important thing to remember is know your wildlife by researching all you can about your chosen subject, as this will put you into the scene of opportunity. The breeding season is when wildlife is the most active, and the ideal time to capture your action shots. Food gathering spots are also great places to ensure plenty of action as the behavioural pecking order is sorted out. Once an opportunity position is secured, it is then up to you and your level of patience, and that will depend on how passionate you are to achieve that wow action shot. It could mean setting up a hide to use as a stake out, for example, being near nesting birds where chicks are being fed. In these situations, it is important to…