"I need to walk in the world. Feet on the dirt, sky above and landscape around. This is how I start my work - out in the world...And then I get stuck in." Kelly Casey
We’re so excited to welcome the outstanding Snowy-Monaro artist Kelly Casey to the gallery for our upcoming group show, Life in Colour.
We are delighted to welcome the superb Snowy-Monaro-based artist Kelly Casey for our upcoming show, Life in Colour.
The show brings together more than 30 incredible artists from all over the country.
Register now to join us on Saturday 16 November from 1pm as we celebrate Life in Colour in the company of the artists involved in the show. Put your name down for this FREE event here, and pop your contact details on the mailing list to get early pre-sales access.
Kelly works in a painterly style and is drawn to loose and evocative landscape. She works on heavy paper using watercolour and gouache, and oil on canvas.
Kelly has been a finalist in many national art awards, including the Black Swan (now the Lester Prize), the Doug Moran, the Kennedy, the Basil Sellers, the Bermingham Landscape Prize for watercolour and more recently the Regional Landscape Prize.
Her brilliant work in Life in Colour is the gorgeous Lake Wabby IV (in peppermint) - a watercolour and gouache on cold press paper beauty. We love it!
Ahead of the show opening, Kelly told us about starting a work with her feet on the dirt, the light in K’Gari, and tackling existential angst.
Where do you create your work?
"I start much of my work outside (as I did with this piece) and I'll often finish things in the studio. Particularly if I'm using a set of reference drawings or paintings to support a larger work or piece in oils."
How do you create your work?
"Like many people (I suspect), I need to walk in the world. Feet on the dirt, sky above and landscape around. This is how I start my work - out in the world, thinking about the colour combinations, how I might layer them, washes vs impasto and where I might draw the opening lines."
"And then I get stuck in."
"You hope for flow, you hope for ease. Sometimes the gods smile and you can fall into it, other times you have to work your way in. It's always different."
Tell us about Lake Wabby IV (in peppermint) - what is its story?
"Earlier this year I spent some time on K'gari (Fraser Island) with family. It's a beautiful place, the colour and light up there is different from here."
"This piece is one of a series of colour studies of Lake Wabby, a naturally green lake in the middle of the Island. I painted four pieces in this series; this is the most representative (ie non abstract) of those works."
"Each of these works were painted plein air on the sand dunes that surround the lake."
What inspires you?
"All of it. The world, the privilege of being in it. The miracle that I am. In making art I try to engage with that - turn my existential angst into something I can make sense of."
What do you hope people feel when they see your work?
"Immediacy. Connection. Reflection."
Register for the opening celebration of Life in Colour on Saturday 16 November here.
