ARTIST PROFILE – Ngaere Donald

Living in a rural environment, I am constantly captivated by the design, shape and changing colours, and a feel for the landscape and the animals surrounding me. My senses are forever stimulated by the world we live in. Outback Queensland had played a significant role in my life and contrasts greatly with the Snowy River flats near Orbost, in East Gippsland where I have been living now for many years.

Everyone is born to draw and paint from an early age. I am one of the fortunate ones to never have lost this desire to express myself with colour and mark making. I have a liking for all media, swapping regularly from one to the other. With sketchbook and camera in hand I am constantly seeking and gathering reference material and making thumbnail sketches. I often refer to my sketches, but prefer to paint landscapes on site, in all weathers, to paint the immediacy of my feelings and the presence in the environment, to capture the world as I see it.

In 1986 as a mature age student, I enrolled in the Visual Arts Degree, Bairnsdale annexe. GIAE (Now Federation Uni) This gave me more confidence to seek out more artistic endeavours. Another great influence in my art knowledge has been Professor Colin Johnson. A major turning point in my artistic career is painting with the Town and Country painters over three decades. With Cynthia Boyle on three occasions, I have made the long journey to W.A, to take up Artist – in – Residence challenges In Beverley and Westonia. Recently I was thrilled to be part of The Masters of Watercolour Exhibition in Melbourne.

I am currently the President of The Wilderness Coast Artists and am an exhibiting member of the Australian Guild of Realist Artists, the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, the Town and Country painters, and the East Gippsland Art Gallery.