My name is Gail and I am based in Melbourne Australia.
As an emerging, self taught, intuitive artist I commenced experimenting with painting contemporary abstracts with acrylic on canvas in late April 2020, during our Covid Isolation lockdown, as a creative outlet and way to keep my mental health balanced during that time.
I had never done this before, Not picked up a paint brush since high school art classes where I’d never had a talent for drawing or sketching or painting landscapes or still life.
But there was something freeing that spoke to my creative soul in working in abstract form and since then I have produced over 70 artworks.
My process is largely intuitive, influenced by the colours I chose to work with on any given day. I may use work of other abstract artists to inspire my own creations, or simply allow the brush or palette knife to guide me through what appears on the canvas.
Every piece I do is original and as I work with brushes and palette knives, producing layers with texture, drips and splatters and in multiple blended colours, it means every thing created on my canvases is unique,
Even ‘mistakes’ can become part of my work or lead to the discovery of a new style or technique.
I’m still developing my own style, through experimentation . I like my work to have depth and richness , providing the viewer with the opportunity to lose themself in the work. I use multi colours sometimes blended and others contrasting and create, texture and layers with brush and palette knife
which incorporates both linear design and freeform style. Ocean and beach colours are a strong influence and working with various shades of blues is one of my favourite options.
I have been told my artwork is very calming and instills a sense of serenity and provides a form of colour therapy for those viewing it. People see things in it that I don’t and interpret it in a way that resonates with them and makes them feel something.
My intention when I create is to produce something visually pleasing and interesting, something that makes people lose themselves in it or transports them to a sense of a place or time with how they see it. I’ve always been a visual person, colour and texture and abstract in nature have been subjects of photography for me over the years.
IN late April 2020, six weeks into Covid Isolation Lockdown in Melbourne I saw a canvas in my garage that i had found in a hard rubbish collection several years earlier and not liked the artwork on it but thought that one day i might use to paint something else on.
I contacted a friend who does art to ask what paints to use as I had no idea and was advised to get some acrylic paint sample pots. Several hours later I had 5 paint pots in colours I like and some brushes and I produced my first work!
The discovery for me that I had the ability to create abstract artworks was a revelation at my age (60+) and when I discovered it was resonating with other people that wanted to buy my work I saw it as a gift.