10 Remarkable Artists from Regional Victoria
You can easily collect Australian-made art from remote artists! In this blog post, we unveil 10 remarkable artists from regional Victoria. Read on to discover their talent and shop this week’s curation, Regional Rhapsody, for more art by fabulous Victorian artists.
1. Melinda Jane
Melinda Jane is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and creates in Castlemaine, Victoria. Inspired by human kinds’ reciprocal relationship with the natural world, her artworks feature visual motifs and expressions of her experience being in nature. Melinda’s use of light and shadow, and patterns and cycles of decay and regrowth, invite the viewer into quiet contemplation. Click the image below to shop Melinda’s portfolio of artwork.
Melinda Jane stands outside her Castlemaine studio. Photo by Penny Ryan Photography
“My artmaking explores the physical experience of being within nature that can provoke memory and the stillness of inner reflection. I don’t seek to document but rather to connect with a phenomenological sense of being in the world, employing familiar aspects of landscapes that suggest and resonate,” says Melinda.
Return Again to This Serenity by Melinda Jane.
2. Michael Wolfe
Also based in Castlemaine is Collectable Artist Michael Wolfe, whose widely exhibited, warm-toned landscape paintings are revered by collectors at home and abroad. Inspiration is never afar when living in such a beautiful part of Central Victoria. The artist cites Australia’s harsh climate and everchanging terrain as references for his landscapes. Click the image below to shop Michael’s glorious portfolio of abstract landscapes.
Michael Wolfe draws inspiration from the landscapes around his home in Castlemaine.
Castlemaine is an oasis with rolling hills, granite tors, and boulders to dense forests and open plains. “There are rivers, reservoirs and dams, extinct volcanoes, unused quarries, gold rush ruins. It is, in short, filled with interesting and inspiring outlooks to draw and paint,” says Michael.
Lost Horizon II by Michael Wolfe.
3. Geoff Lugg
Retired Police Officer Geoff Lugg’s passion for painting lay dormant as his professional career progressed. “In 2018, forty-three years later, I was having dinner in a restaurant and saw a mural about eight meters long painted by Indigenous artist Tommy Crowe. I knew immediately that I needed to start painting again,” said Geoff. So, he spent a month travelling and photographing Australian scenery from deserted desert areas and the animals that called it home. “I went as far as Nhulunbuy, and when I got back to Numurkah, I had enough information to put my ideas on canvas.”
What’s the Gig Hurry Brian by Geoff Lugg.
4. Reaper Buena
Located in the foothills of Alpine Victoria, Reaper Buena is surrounded by lush native bush, farmland, and pine plantations. A stay-at-home mum of two, she is a self-taught artist who paints to relieve stress and capture the beauty of nature. Reaper aims to bring joy into people’s lives by incorporating vibrant colours, shapes, and forms to create unique floral paintings.
Native birds have found their way in and amongst Reaper’s latest floral bouquets. Having only joined the online gallery last year, we’re excited to see her artistic career continue to blossom. Click the image above to discover her full portfolio and shop Reaper’s colourful creations.
See The Beauty Within by Reaper Buena.
5. Tarli Bird
Tali Bird is based in Northern Victoria; however, due to a love of travel, she often finds herself overseas. Like many, she is used to being dependent on her iPhone and, as a result, finds herself constantly lost overseas and unable to read maps. In a true seasoned traveller style, she embraces the adventure and captures photos of her wanderings. These images inspire her multimedia artworks, merging the planned and experienced trip.
Tali paints abstract artworks that emulate her surrounding world and stitches thread onto the canvas, mimicking the lines of a map. “Conflicting patterns from these photos emerge with an attraction to the planned urban environment and the nourishing beauty of the native environment,” says Tarli.
Urban Landscape: Mt Bogong Copper by Tarli Bird.
6. Jeremy Elkington
Jeremy Elkington is an abstract artist based in Traralgon, Victoria. At the core of his artistic expression is a fascination with Ancient Rome, with many of his artworks including this period’s armour, weaponry, ornamental and architectural elements. Within such works, Jeremy aims to evoke a sense of the hidden narrative, the epic, the surreal, the archaic, the brutal and the beauty of Ancient Rome.
Portrait of Caligula by Jeremy Elkington.
7. James Robertson
James Robertson is a Collectable Artist from Daylesford, Victoria. He creates simple yet striking compositions featuring daunting skies, seemingly random grounded figures, and flying objects. Initially, a tree change from city to country living inspired Jame’s art. Nowadays, creating and experimentation are at the forefront of his practice.
With Mount Franklin as the backdrop of his everyday life, it’s no wonder James has mastered depicting serene landscapes. Click the image above to shop his highly collectable oil paintings.
Rendezvous by James Robertson.
8. Eve Sellars
Eve Sellars is a full-time artist and painter whose deep connection to the Australian landscape is evident in her eclectic portfolio of landscape and nature paintings. She lives entirely off-grid in central Victoria with her husband and dogs on rambling untamed acreage, preferring to allow nature to simply “do its thing”. Her studio is nestled into the bush, surrounded by gum trees and a noisy population of birds, and overlooks the mountains and pasture adjacent to the Goulburn River.
Eve’s art is a stylised and saturated reflection of her surrounding environment, where colours of the natural world are amplified and woven into familiar compositions reminiscent of simpler times and moments of happiness. Click the image above to shop this Rising Star.
Across the Winter Waterhole by Eve Sellars.
9. Pete Conroy
Artist Pete Conroy masterfully wields a paintbrush within his home studio–a hot shed in Echuca, Victoria. Pete explores the human form in his distinct caricature painting style and enjoys poking fun at international and Australian politics from time to time. Click the image below to shop this Rising Star’s portfolio of portraits.
Like most cartoonists, Pete exaggerates the features of his subjects to communicate their emotions. However, since joining Bluethumb in 2017 after a surfing accident left him a high-functioning paraplegic, Pete has developed a consistent and unique artistic style proving popular amongst collectors.
A Long Time Waiting by Pete Conroy.
10. Amanda Carson
Amanda Carson is a landscape artist hailing from Victoria’s High Country. Her moody oil paintings are a snapshot of the surrounding natural environment she lives and paints. She creates using a minimal colour palette, with the occasional pallet knife helping to achieve movement and texture. A self-titled sky watcher, Amanda is inspired by the everchanging cloud formations that fill her mountaintop view. “Sometimes gentle, sometimes wild; no two days are the same,” says Amanda.
Tambo Autumn by Amanda Carson.
Don’t forget to shop this week’s curation, Regional Rhapsody, for more art by fabulous Victorian artists!
