Artists of Australia
Inspired by the colour and texture of the outdoors -
Inspired by the colour and texture of the outdoors -
Angela lives on 5 beautiful acres in Newrybar that are also home to her Bingara gallery where you can see a range of her work. You can tell from where she lives how passionate she is about nature as well as the native animals and birds that feature strongly in her work. Her artwork is also part of her desire to heighten awareness amongst everyone, of the plight of wildlife around the world, and to assist in the rehabilitation of local wildlife. She travels often to gather material for her art and to do charity work in both Australia and Africa. In 2014 she walked with camels, along with her gorgeous Red-Heeler “Ruby”, for three months through the outback to raise funds for Swags for Homeless people. Keep an eye out for Ruby in the pics of the garden as she is never far from her side. Angela has also held Art Auctions to raise funds for orphanages around the world. Angela is a self-taught artist who works in pastels, watercolours, inks, graphite and polychromos pencils. She spent most of her working life as a Secondary Teacher until she was able to achieve her dream of becoming a full time Artist. Does your garden influence your work – either in what you create or how it affects you? Absolutely - my garden has changed with our plantings towards native flowering ones and this ties in with my work of native birds and mammals. We have put in Grevillea, Banksias and a number of fruit trees and I have noticed a massive increase in native birds. We get the small Blue Wrens all around one little section of the garden. We also get the Firetails, the Black Cockatoos; Brush Turkeys; Rosellas and little bandicoots. Along the fence line we get kangaroos and emus as our neighbour is Macadamia Castle Wildlife Park. Ours is certainly not an English or ordered suburban garden – we are embracing Natives to bring in bees and frogs etc. We have a little creek that runs through the garden – along the back. Having a large space you can really enjoy the large trees. We have been here three years and spent a lot of money to remove overgrown rubbish trees - we wanted to clear it to make room for the good trees. We have removed Camphors in some places – added Avocado trees and some fruit trees. There is also a Pomegranate, Fig, Blueberry, Davison plum, an Orange, a Banana and a Mulberry tree. My husband is also very proud of his veggie garden and we get so much to eat out of it. We moved here to have the gallery and to have space for our four children and ten grandchildren to enjoy with us. My husband’s vision was always a huge outoor kitchen which we have now next to the pool. We also have an Airbnb on the side which we lived in while rebuilding the house. My office is off the side of the gallery now. Do you have a favourite corner in your garden? It changes – probably this little section which attracts so much birdlife to it - or the area with the huge grevillea where we spent so much time getting the creepers out. Now they have taken off and attract all the lovely birds. I don’t tend to photograph them myself as it is so hard to get perfect pics but I have some very talented friends who have gifted them to me. I watch them and I see their nests and learn their habits. That is all part of it. What is your favourite plant or flower? My favourite is an Iris but I haven’t got any here – it was my wedding flower. But for plants I guess my Grevillea because of their colour and what they bring to the garden attracting birds and bees. My mum lived in Gelong and then the Gold Coast but wasn’t a huge gardener. My husband’s grandfather was an amazing gardener – apparently his vegetable garden was legendary. My parents weren’t artists, but my mum sewed, bottled and cooked and was amazing with maths. Mum always packed the car and she just had that spacial awareness, which is a skill too, I think. My dad sang and he played the guitar and worked so hard in many jobs - and he loved horses like I do. Do you have a favourite garden? One favourite garden was the one we used to go to at the Eastern beach in Geelong - which had a big park with rotundas and those magnificent huge palms with convoluted trunks. But this is my favourite garden. The kangaroos next door got out during a storm on New Year’s Day, and it took days for us to get them back – it is not easy to herd kangaroos!! We got them all back except three which took a while longer How does the act of ‘making’ relate to your personality and who you are? I think you tend to put a little bit of yourself into everything. You put your own stamp onto something – everyone’s artwork should be instantly recognisable as it being one of theirs – if you are well developed in your art. It should have a particular look that should be recognisable as yours. I know my work is very detailed and I work with tiny pastel pencils or tiny paintbrushes because I want to get that exact details of the different colours of the iris or the shadow on the pupil or correct number of eyelashes or whiskers. I think that is representational of who I am – I am rather OCD as even my cds and dvds are in alphabatised – I can’t stand a mess! It reflects in my artwork I believe. When I garden, I am freer – I would much rather garden than do housework. Even though I must have a tidy house I would much rather garden. Its something about getting your hands dirty - my husband and I call it ‘earthing’ – you really feel as one with nature and it can produce food. I found it hard to do art during the start of Covid – there was this sense of ‘what’s the point’ but with gardening there was a reason to be outside and absorbing nature. I find that walking in all elements is the best place for me – anywhere! I just love the outside – I would love to be an explorer if I could have my life again. (See the beautiful Ruby in the pic above) Tell us about your career journey to date – did you always want to be an artist? I did art at school, but I hated my art teacher and she hated me. I was at school in Victoria and she was really against realism – she wanted a modern look and didn’t like what I did. It did take the wind out of my sails for quite a while. I did a double degree for Secondary Teaching after school and taught most of my working life. I liked teaching but the red tape was exhausting. I taught at Geelong Grammer school for a few years which I loved a lot. I moved to Queensland and really found myself there. I dabbled with art over the years and produced one or two pieces a year. I won the Southern Cross School People’s choice award when they had the Art Show. I really got serious after my dad passed away and I had a little money and I bought a little studio out at Delwood about 7 years ago. I thought it was now or never and then I worked towards my first solo exhibition at Ballina Gallery. The exhibition was called 'Avian Criminals and Other Fine Friends' and from then I just kept going. (Pic is view from Angela's studio window) Could you talk us through your creative process? I have recently discovered art journaling after going on a course with Zom Osbourne. I have started journaling because I didn’t think I was being 'free' enough in my visions of my art and I loved Zom’s work with dogs and ravens. When I did my solo exhibition, I got inspired from walking with my dog Ruby – these visions came into my head of what I wanted to paint and that worked well. Now with my pastels I am doing more of what I want to – I will decide on a type of bird I want to use and I will find a photo. But I want to go more towards the energy in my head and make the bird fit into that. I have also just started oil painting. I feel that I am looking for a new theme to really jump into. I am part of pastel and wild life artist groups that is all about realism and I was accepted twice for the Holmes Acquisitive Art Prize for Excellence in Realistic Australian Bird Art Competition which is the equivalent of the Archibald for Australian bird artists. It is one that has to be totally realistic with no manmade structures in the artwork. Sometimes it is like I have two wolves inside me at the moment - one totally wanting realism and the other wanting to explore other ways of painting. What has been the most challenging lesson learnt since you started your art? This happened yesterday – I had finished working on a bird and called it up on the computer to check the colour of the leaves as the photo was a little blurry. When I looked at it on the computer the colour I had used was total wrong – it was a green parrot and I had used yellow, blues and reds instead so I had to go back and go over it with green. So always check your source. But there are hundreds of lessons – perspective; drawing accurately; how to do spheres; light sources and shadows; shapes of eyes and pupils; even things like reflection – don’t use a photo with a flash as you get a double highlight in the pupil rather than the single from daylight. Where do you stop? If the materials you use aren't quality don’t expect a good result or your work to be archival! What’s been the best thing that has happened to you since you started? In terms of recognition it would be being part of the Holmes Realistic Bird Art competition in 2019 and 2017. You submit work and hundreds enter and only 30-40 are selected. I have one I have been working on for this year but the competition did not happen this year. I was also asked to judge the Bentley competition one year which was great. Do you have any advice you might give your younger self? Start earlier, read more and practise, practise, practise. Have confidence in yourself and just go for it. Don’t allow yourself to be influenced by negativity from other people. Even my dad said he wished he had never stopped me from practising art after school. What are your top tips for a great garden? Plan – I think the biggest mistake people make is to over plant and not allow for the size of what will grow. I think people don’t allow the right trees or plants to shine. That Jacaranda down the bottom of the garden is magnificent when it blooms. Our trees are a beautiful contrast of colours and shapes – the fruit trees are planted in front so as not to encroach on the park grass area and still get the sun in front of the large trees. Do you have any projects coming up you would like to talk about? I would love to do a book about 'Ruby with the Camels' from my trip and I think that would be a great project to work on. I am planning an exhibition here next year in my Gallery. I am part of the Open Studio Trail on weekends of 28/29 November and 5/6 December – website info http://www.os-bbb.com/ Angela's work can be seen below or at her website www.bingaragallery.com.au and you can follow her on Instagram at bingaragallery. Contact her direct to purchase her work or to visit her gallery.
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Kay KnightsI am an Australian artist who is crazy about her garden and I'm inspired by the colours and contrasts in my backyard. I truly believe that Gardening is Art - I believe that many Artists are similarly inspired in their gardens. This Blog is for me to go and meet some of them and share their gardens and art. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |