Western Australia
Western Australian Artist Laura Cole has zigzagged from popular Geographe Bay in the South-West to a lone campfire just below the Tropic of Capricorn for this exhibition, painting familiar and more illusive subjects in gouache, watercolour, acrylic and multi-media on paper, canvas and board.
Beginning from a Dunsborough waterfront base in Summer, the Artist painted happily around Geographe Bay, depicting well-known views such as Bunker Bay, Meelup and the Busselton Jetty.
Perth in Autumn is hard to beat, so Laura worked close to her home in Shenton Park. Sometimes pottering around on a scooter and usually within reach of a café (!), the Artist painted around the Swan River, the grounds of the University of Western Australia, and some of the beaches on the way to Fremantle. Rottnest, as always, remains a favourite subject.
Winter, and time to head North. Travelling, painting and sometimes sleeping in her 4WD van, Laura took a less-structured approach than usual, roaming wherever chance and opportunity indicated. This included being ‘handballed’ around stations of the Murchison and the Gascoyne, where the Artist met “amazing” people (...there was "Diamond", and "Ganger" and the "Lady of Shallot"...), new experiences (delicious kangaroo stew, the Kennedy Ranges glowing at dawn, a Satellite phone and GPS) and unexpected painting subjects, like the natural light filtering through into the historic Mt Narryer Shearing Shed.
"From chandeliers to starry nights, busy homesteads to just me and the campfire, motorbikes to mustering planes, crystal glassware to a tin mug, every day was an adventure. I became a whizz with 2-minute noodles, a billy can and a thermos, in between elegant dining rooms, warm kitchens and generous hospitality."
On the first day of Spring Laura returned to Perth, pausing briefly in Carnarvon to fill the void created by the depleted mobile winter wine supply with a generous load of bananas. The painting journey of "WESTERN AUSTRALIA Under Capricorn" concluded with a sojourn at delightful New Norcia, where vivid splashes of blue leschenaultia and golden wattle heralded Grand Final victory!