Exhibition of two years' work
Pearl Beach artist Ms Marijke Greenway will exhibit her paintings at the Palm House in Sydney from November 16 to 29, in an exhibition called The Painted Outback.
The exhibition is the culmination of Ms Greenway's work over the last two years inspired by a three-month trip around Australia last year.
Ms Greenway, who travelled a distance of 18,700km and set up her tent in 45 different places, said the memories of the trip had not faded.
"In fact the way I now remember those lovely hills and plains is with more colour than the actuality," said Ms Greenway.
"One always remembers the good things in life and this was certainly one of my best trips I have ever been on.
"The canvasses are big and bold and colourful as a result.
"We were like gypsies, imagine the planning that goes into a trip like this, bike on top, tent in the back and 40 empty canvasses in a carry bag, waiting to be painted for an exhibition that was already booked.
"I sat with my new digital camera held level to the side window and snapped away, ending up with lovely blurry images, which already resembled the paintings growing in my head.
"What I have ended up with are about 30 paintings completed 'en plein air' during our stopovers and then there are the other 30 paintings completed in the year after the trip, inspired by the trip but completed in the comfort of the home studio after the images were digested by the heart and mind and which I feel, capture the soul of the outback, as they are enhanced by my memories.
"These paintings express mood rather than reality, with exaggerated and flamboyant use of colour, yet I feel that I have not invented these landscapes, but summarised them, in the same way that you can call up the entire red centre with one image of Uluru.
"They have a different painting language to the 'en plein air' paintings.
"There are dots for rocks and blobs for trees, they are all illusions, yet it would be hard to miss the meaning and the presence of the infinite Australian outback," said Ms Greenway.
Email, 6 Nov 2012
Marijke Greenway, Pearl Beach