Elizabeth's Gallery

I love where I live. The specific bit of land where my home is and the large island which contains it.

I love:

• the smell of eucalypt that welcomes me home as soon as I step out of the airport
• the bright light which brings everything into sharp focus, the beauty is clear and obvious
• dry summers with scorching sun
• icy winters that chill my edges and bring me alive
• the intensity of it all - bright colours, strong fragrances, loud amazing bird song

My home is full of enchantment. As I walk through the bush I find remnants of exquisite life. Small things of beauty sometimes hidden, sometimes waiting patiently in plain sight for me to find them.

What I see, what I paint are small pieces of life. Isolated from each other yet linked by the common place.

Each tiny thing is part of something vast. Each is a small piece of life in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I, too, am something small in something vast. We are sisters and brothers no matter how different our form.

Paint is another of my loves. I relish the way it flows and moves. We work together to create images. Cooperation is the key. As I surrender my will to the paint the image emerges almost of it' s own accord. If I try to control too much the image is lost or muddied or not really alive.

My world is full of colour - strong bright ones I love to wear and surround myself with, subtle, soft ones that invite me to look further. As much as I try I can never quite capture the colours of life. And, when I come close, I feel so happy. Sometimes the colours seem impossible to those who only see my paintings and not what I have painted. Yet they are truly as close to reality as I can make them.

Behind all the paintings is sound and fragrance. I hear the melodious challenge of the magpies, the raucous call of the cockatoos, the delicate song of various small birds. The hot, burnt smell of summer, the moist fragrance of the bush after rain and the delicious smell of wattles in bloom are a few of the many fragrances embedded in my work.

I am rooted strongly in this land. It feeds me, inspires me, defines me and gives me the freedom to be who I am. I want to share this wonderful land with everyone. I want to do what I can to return the life that it gives me and to feed it as it has fed me. Gratitude fills me and this flows through me as I paint. I hope that others will experience this too and that my paintings help them to do this.