For Beechworth-based artist Brooke Whelan, the desire to create has been present her whole life. After completing an Associate Diploma in Art and Design, Brooke worked in various creative roles, including an extensive 15-year career in floral design. After sidestepping into education roles, she finally came full circle and returned to painting and art making.

 

Her process is looking past the subject's obvious, close observation and engagement. Rather than focus on creating a personal narrative, Brooke’s artworks evoke a nostalgic sense of time and place. Exploring how the man-made elements and the surroundings are affected through interaction with the natural world over time, Brooke likes to play with vantage points and perspective, shifting between an interesting foreground and what is seen beyond. Her goal is to inspire those who see her work to look more carefully at the world around them, to discover beauty in unusual places.

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Expressive brush strokes and saturated rich acrylic colours depict the light filtering through the elements and subject, capturing the sun and representing the colour of the day and season. Her artworks are simultaneously nostalgic, haunting and romantic, with colour used to convey a mood or feeling.

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Construction lines, scratches and intuitive brush strokes explore the relationship of tight and loose elements in the same composition. These enhance the aesthetic and add charm and patina to the image, creating a vintage film like appearance and encouraging the viewer to meander through the artwork.