Resilience

This painting was a finalist in the prestigious 2021 Art Renewal Centre Salon Awards, and will be published in their annual art book this year. It was also a finalist in the A.M.E Bale travelling scholarship and exhibited at Glen Eira City Gallery in 2021.
Now that this painting has returned from exhibiting, I'm excited to release it for sale. This is an important work for me - one which I feel is very telling of the current times. Here is a little statement about the painting:
‘Unprecedented times’/‘uncertain times’ - these are the words that resound in our ears over the last year. When Covid hit, my fiancé began working from home. After work cut-backs, he was forced to search for more work - and eventually he came to the difficult decision to use this time to re-skill and begin studying in a new industry which will afford better future opportunities. It’s been a whirlwind emotionally, mentally & financially, with both of us working side by side in our tiny studio apartment - Patrick studying whilst I paint, but strangely we feel closer and stronger than ever. I watch him studying and love and admire him even more for the resilience and strength that he has shown.

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Colleen Stapleton is a contemporary realist artist whose work focuses on the figure, portraiture & still life. She has been a finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Award, Darling Portrait Prize, Shirley Hannan, Percival, SBS, Lethbridge 20000, Kennedy Art Prize, International Art Renewal Centre Salon & received the Highly Commended Award in the KAAF Prize. Career highlights include winning the 2018 A.M.E Bale Painting prize, Florence Academy of Art Scholarship, and the JAAS Brett Whiteley Scholarship. She has exhibited in group shows nationally and has studied in workshops at the Repin Academy (St Petersburg), Florence Academy of Art, Realist Academy of Art (Toronto), and with Stephen Early from Studio Incamminati. She also has a Bachelor of Fine Art from Griffith University and a Diploma of Art from Julian Ashton Art School.With a passion for figurative oil painting, she paints to try to depict the beauty and complexity of life, objects and scenes.