Near Olinda

This landscape painting draws on the light, palette, and compositional spirit of Arthur Streeton and the Australian Impressionist tradition. Three ghost gums stand in the foreground, their pale trunks cutting through a warm, sun-washed field. Loose brushstrokes suggest shifting light across the land, with dry ochre grasses leading the viewer into a vast middle ground and distant blue ranges. The sky carries muted tones of heat and haze, capturing a sense of stillness and the wide Australian horizon.

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Toby is an Australian painter. Working primarily in oil, he blends the luminosity and atmospheric depth of Australian Impressionism with contemporary figurative fragments to explore place, identity, and the emotional residue of history. His paintings often draw from the light-scorched coasts and hinterlands of Queensland, inflected with subtle echoes of European modernism and classical forms.

Toby holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Queensland, where his research focused on Australian modernism and the avant-garde magazine Angry Penguins. His academic background informs his visual practice, bringing a deep awareness of art-historical lineage, narrative, and the psychological charge of images. Alongside painting, he lectures in art history and theory at university and collaborates with leading contemporary artists on installation and artwork creation.

His paintings are held in private collections across Australia, and his practice extends across studio painting, archival research, and collaborative contemporary projects.