Granite Form Compositions

by Tim Dennis

I really like the unusual paint texture, an original way to create a realistic effect. Massive granite boulders, surging white water, a stormy sky. The coast at its most wild and beautiful.

Spirits by the Sea: Twilight

by Dr Kay Kane FRQAS

Muted tones, flowing trees and ethereal figures create a beautifully dreamlike atmosphere. There is a quiet melancholy to this work – the last light of day fading into darkness. Magical and poetic.

Adeline Falls, Blue Mountains

by Casey Charles

Meticulous brushwork bordering on photorealism. Dramatic light floods the falls against deep shadowed walls, drawing the eye upward in quiet reverence. A deeply meditative connection to the natural world. Beautifully achieved.

Adder Rocks

by Jo Cochrane

Impressive paint application with a soothing result. Confident realist technique with beautifully varied textures and a light, atmospheric sky that perfectly complements the detailed foreground.

Lake Moogerah

by Isaac Liaw

Surprisingly well composed for a young artist. The eye travels naturally from foreground to background, a classic Renaissance technique. Calm colours and expressive brushwork bring it to life. Keep painting!

Mamma Moona

by Zygmunt Libucha

A wonderful sculpture. There is so much suppressed energy in this piece. The woman’s face is a wonderful construct of lines – the nose, the secret little smile. There would never be a dull moment with this sculpture.

Rust and Reel

by Angelo Marasigan

Clever use of found ‘stuff’. The cogwheel at the top may be the sun but it signifies the passage of time. Clever combinations of materials, full of life.

“I can’t wear yellow”

by Carol Goodwin

It was a great surprise to me that it was this small and unassuming painting by Carol Goodwin that exercised the strongest gravitational pull. The subject, or two subjects, appear completely comfortable in their domestic reality. The woman, who seems so sure of herself, meets the viewer’s gaze with a combination of intimacy, generosity and toughness. The composition is simple but perfectly balanced. It reads to me like a sort of contemporary domestic Australian variation of some of the paintings of Spanish Modernist painter Ramon Casas whose lounging women are ambivalent about whether we turn up to meet them or not. That ambivalence makes the subjects even more compelling because there is no performative desperation about them. Once I locked eyes with this subject (and her dog), I couldn’t turn away. It felt like a genuine human connection. You can’t ask much more of a figurative painting than that.

Dig In

by Dylan Jones

Jones’ painting embodies an easy domesticity, but in their case, the intimacy is doubled by the casual but dexterous application of paint. We have a strong sense of the moment the painting was made and are invited to relive it in the present. The perspective also means we don’t feel external to the painting; we are together with the subject, seated at the table along with other imagined subjects beyond the frame. It’s a seriously lively painting that makes us feel we are a part of a larger gathering, and it’s quite sure of itself.

Stradbroke Island “Tony”

by Lien Jansen

Stradbroke Island “Tony” by Lien Jansen is another small and quiet painting in the show that I couldn’t stop looking at. The figure is painted in such a soft and simple way but is surrounded by a rough coastal atmosphere we can really feel closing in around him. I think it’s a deeply psychological little painting with an obvious reference to Caspar David Freidrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818), but with a local interpretation that feels completely fresh and sincere.

Mother and Child

by Hyelan Kim

This painting is incredibly intimate. The relationship between mother and child is replicated in the careful and gentle surface of the painting. This one really has to be seen in person.

Where’s the Promite?

by Julie Purcell

Where is the Promite? by Julie Purcell displays a highly dextrous and inventive use of watercolour, a medium that seems at odds with the subject-matter. That tension is just one of the many reasons the work is so compelling.

Grand-mére à la Fenêtre

by Clara Philippe

This artist has managed a difficult, interesting tension between interior and exterior space that makes the life situation of the subject palpable.

Arna Baartz, In Her Studio

by Monica Batiste

A striking work. Strong composition. The eye is subtly led from the figure to the environment via tone shape and colour. The figure itself is skillfully drawn, and the overall economy of means encourages one to spend much more than a cursory minute in front of this painting.

Mother and Child

by Hyelan Kim

When I was Young

by Tahlia Pearce

Celebrating – the artist’s skill in observation from life:
This artist celebrates the art of still life. From picking special objects and setting the scene, to bringing different textures to life.
I especially love the contrast between the soft, fuzzy bears and the solid heaviness of the stone; it shows how deeply the artist truly looked at their subject.

Scarlet Glass

by Alexandria Dunn

Celebrating – the artist’s skill in observation from life:
This piece exhibits a high level of attention to light, reflection, and shadow in a challenging still life. It successfully captures the difficult contrast between soft textures and translucent subjects through careful observation.

Mired

by Petrit Elshani

Celebrating – the artist’s skill in observation from life:
This is a lovely example of getting the most “feeling” from the “fewest marks”. This artist has focused on using bold, confident brushstrokes to simplify complex facial planes.

My Poppy

by Matthew Gibb

Celebrating – Originality:
This artist displays a unique take on painting from life combining originality and playfulness and literally popped from the wall. Take a close look as it gets better the more you look at it. Bold colour choices and confident placement give it a vibrant character and charm.

It Needs More Salt

by Amy Miller

Celebrating – Originality:
An everyday subject transformed and elevated with attention to the simplicity of shadow and light.

Hues of Autumn

by Sam Geritz

Celebrating – Originality:
A beautifully composed example of restrained focus and concentration. This artist has lost themselves in the subject in producing a cleverly composed and intriguing work of art.

Street Kitty

by Seras Pendragon

Celebrating – Originality:
I cannot help but smile when I look at this painting. A cheerful take and creatively composed with a skillful use of complementary colours of cools and warms.

B2

by Archer Tiel

Celebrating – the artist’s skill in observation from life:
A lovely, restrained brush technique paying attention to the light and shadow describing the essential planes of the face, neck and shirt in a confident painterly way for such a young artist.

Mother in the Bad Ischl Summer

by Weiliao Zhang

Celebrating – the artist’s skill in observation from life:
The most striking element of this painting is the observation of light and shadow and how that behaves in a physical space when describing a complex subject that includes foliage, architectural and human elements. All the while balancing technical skill with a strong sense of being there.

Asleep

by Bryani-rose Raines

Celebrating – a High Level of Accuracy and Refined Detail
An intriguing viewpoint elevates this small monochrome work. The technical mastery in its disciplined, accurate rendering, showcasing a highly refined control over the medium to achieve exceptional realism.

My Quiet Space

by Felicity Lu

Celebrating – the artist’s skill in observation from life
An outstanding artwork given the young age of this artist. Using a simple pencil to skillfully describe the variety of shapes, surfaces and textures observed in an everyday space, all while capturing the diffused light through a window to illuminate the scene.

Self Portrait

by Lilah McMahon

Celebrating – a High Level of Accuracy and Refined Detail
This work is captivating in its accuracy and disciplined observation. The artist has patiently captured the complex nuances of light and skin texture with a level of refined skill that brings the subject to life with startling realism.

My Appachchi’s Story

by Mahith Wijesooriya

Outstanding Originality:
I was captivated by this artist’s keen sense of observation, combined with outstanding originality, mood, and confident execution, all clearly intentional.

Wind Whispered

by Lilli Burns

Balance

by Soroor Behbahani