Lisa Turner
I loved to draw as a kid. There was no such thing as the internet and pay TV was unfathomable, so drawing was a pretty good option! I'd copy from photos, pictures, logos - anything that tickled my fancy. Eventually I started drawing from life, usually things like shoes and staplers - things I could find in my bedroom. In high school, I started painting and although I loved it, confidence held me back. Combining personal fear with the "gotta get a real job" concept, I abandoned painting and art in general when I went to university to study business and marketing.
Some 20 years later, with the encouragement of my husband and with gaping mouths from my children, I started painting again. The self-confidence was still an issue, but with the maturity of another 20 years under my belt, I pushed through. Well, frankly, I didn't care (as much). I loved painting, it made me feel good.
And now, here I am. Once too shy to let my husband see what I was painting, to sharing my work with the world. My work is held in private collections in the US, the UK, New Zealand, France and of course here in Australia.I now have a studio, a permanent space in my house and I paint whenever I can. Most often, this is at night time when the kids are asleep but my favourite time to paint is in the mornings or afternoons when the light coming through the windows is strong and natural. I enjoy variety in my art, so it's not unusual for me to switch between a still life and a seascape or from a detailed, realistic landscape to an abstract work about colour. I paint big, small and anywhere in between.
My most recent works have seen a shift towards a focus on light and shape, often employing a geometric or cubism approach to break the image down into bite-size elements of colour and shape. I've found it both challenging and rewarding to simplify my paintings in this way and aim to continue to develop this style and simplify my work even further. However, every now and then I need to let loose! This recent style is very controlled and requires rather intense focus and sometimes when I get into the studio, I have an overwhelming urge to slap paint on the canvas more freely and quickly.
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