The Dancing Mind

The Dancing Mind is a portrait of my best friend Jay. Jay is a very special person in my life, and when it came to painting him I won't lie, I was terrified. Ensuring that I capture my subjects distinct personalities is very integral to my work. Jay is a beautiful human. He is brilliant and succeeds at all he does. He is intense, creative and has a uniqueness to him that makes him so endearing. His mind, and the way it works fascinates me. He is a very successful finance person in government that came from a past as a dancer. Polar opposites that are strangely in sync. I painted Jay in a myriad of colours, shades and tones to reflect his creativity. The colours almost sparkle. The composition staged for uniqueness and his and intense gaze and dark setting to capture his more serious side.

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Marieka Hambledon is an Adelaide based portrait artist whose work explores the human condition. Hambledon grew up in an artistic household and started painting from a young age. She began her university studies in film, before transferring into a fine art degree and then eventually studied graphic design that lead to a successful 10-year career.

With her parents involved in both theatre and counselling, Hambledon was drawn to painting different characters and exploring what it means to be human. Hambledon’s art practice is primarily in acrylics to achieve her distinct dotting style. Her technique is inspired by the pointillists, utilising colourful dots and optical blending to achieve a photo realistic appearance.

Hambledon’s work is in many private collections in Adelaide and Victoria, and a commissioned work was offered as the prize for the Howard Twelftree Award in 2016. In 2019 Hambledon was a finalist in the Kennedy Award, and a semi-finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. Most recently, Hambledon was a finalist in the 2020 Bluethumb Art Prize and the SBS Portrait Prize.