Janice Chewe
My primary inspiration is my immediate environment. The landscapes reflect the rapidly changing face of the Redland Bay area, the sea, the boats and local islands. It is an area in transition from farms to housing. My work is a record of a moment in time, an environment undergoing transformation. Equally, on a creative level, it is an exploration of colour and design – but the starting point is always grounded in the subtropical surroundings in which I live.
I aim to transform my observations of nature and home environment into an expression of colour and shape on the canvas. Each painting becomes a colourful journey.
Slips, Weinam Creek is a favourite painting locale. It is ever-changing as boats come and go, providing interesting shapes and colours. Boats conjure up happy memories of family holidays in childhood and later with my own children.
I am a painter in the conventional mode of oil on canvas and I paint en plein air whenever possible. I like to make decisions about the juxtaposition of colour that might have little obvious relationship to reality. I made the choice in Kinross Gardens, a café/nursery in Thornlands, to foreground an almost abstract pattern of leaves within the context of the existing water feature.