Artist's Palette

In pursuing my life-long love of art, I have studied portrait painting with Muriel and John Balmain for a number of years. I have also undertaken studies at Sturt University in Bathurst. I was born in Melbourne. My home is now at Mt Evelyn, in Victor

We go out painting once a week and have been doing so for the last 20 years – come rain, snow or blazing sunshine. This particular spot is out in the Yarra Valley in Victoria, with a hint of autumn left in the air. When looking for subject matter to

Brisbane in Queensland was my birthplace. I was born in 1936. From a very young age, I liked to draw. My grandfather encouraged me and I spent many hours with him. He bought me drawing materials and would find me subjects to draw. My great grandmothe

The boat was built in 1936 and owned by the Royal Navy during World War Two, and used by Sir Winston Churchill and American President Roosevelt. I was lucky to be on board during a recent trip to Queenstown in New Zealand. On seeing the boat, I had t

Shelena Russell’s life of painting started in early 2002 following her move from New Zealand a year earlier … while in the later stages of pregnancy with her first child. It was at this time that her partner Warren asked her what she wanted to do wit

I started with a collection of photographs (taken from Mission Beach looking out to the Family Isles) for reference. I used a gesso primed canvas board and put an extra coat of white gesso on it. On the bottom third of the board, I based in Unbleache

The subject is the Paddlesteamer ‘Rodney’ which rests on the bottom of the Darling River on the property of the homestead ‘Polia’, around 30 kilometres north-west of the ‘Port of Pooncaria’. In 1894, the ‘Rodney’ was bringing non-union shearers upriv

I was born of an Australian mother and an English father in Newcastleon-Tyne, England. My father was stationed in Darwin during the latter stages of World War Two with his Spitfire squadron. He met my mother and they married in Broken Hill before ret

I like to get as much information on my subject as I can before putting pencil to paper. I have a relative who owns a very tame pair of Electus Parrots (Minka and Toby) and I was able to take many photographs at close quarters. As the painting progre

Most of my ‘training’ has come from practising, and from books on art, although I’m quite poor at following instructions. I usually find a picture or artist I really admire, and simply say, ‘I want to do that’ … jumping straight into trying to achiev

My original sketch is of a terminally cute pigeon (you can see a rough sketch of its head next to the woman); however, when transferring this to watercolour paper does not work, I begin sketching a woman with heavily lidded eyes and a knowing smile.