Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.

Leonardo da Vinci

As a painter I find great joy and excitement in experimenting with colour

and shape. This body of work marries that love of experimentation, with

my travels in the Australian landscape. I have a great reverence for the

natural world and feel compelled to be a voice for its defence, with a

focus on shining some light on the beauty I see in landform and the plant

life upon it. The rich colours, vastness and diversity in Australia is for

me, deeply moving.

Another view is in part, me now taking a different view of how I approach

being an artist and what I place on the canvas. It is a new adventure in

my painting influenced by recent studies on how to be more relaxed,

loose, and intuitive as I paint. This year I travelled solo in my van to

outback Queensland from Warrnambool, speaking to many people and

hearing many different views about what living on the land means to

them and, seeing other artists’ responses to the landscape. This trip

fuelled my need for adventure and excitement and this excitement is

what I seek to express on my canvas.

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Another view also refers to many views and ways of seeing the land. My

view of one place can change, and I can paint different views of the one

location depending on what I focus in on. I’m fascinated and moved by

the endless variations of shapes and lines that intersect and overlay in

nature. When I’m deeply focused, I find landscapes and the plant life

upon it an extraordinary phenomenon, almost magical.

I do not want to paint a literal interpretation of what I see - what I love to

immerse myself in is interpreting it with my own play of form and colour.

That is what I find truly inspiring as a painter of the natural world.

Shari Nye