Biography
A TASTE OF MY PHILOSOPHY & EXPERIENCE
I’m a contemporary Australian artist, living and working in North Queensland, Australia.
Over the past decade and a half, I’ve regularly exhibited my paintings, photographs and videos in Australia and internationally.
I’ve been painting nature and the landscape in different forms throughout my career, using travel as a springboard for inspiration and exploring my relationship to the landscape through my writing and painted impressions.
I love to visit places and then head back to the studio to explore on canvas the textures, colours and forms which have left impressions, without trying to control or force the outcome.
These days, much of my work is drawn from the seascapes I explore with my husband and dog as we sail our 35 foot sailboat in North Queensland, Australia. I work with watercolour on board the boat, and also find the images embed themselves in my visual memory and emerge as impressions in my oil paintings back at home in the studio.
“Nature connects me to something much bigger than myself. It puts life in perspective. It’s where I feel peaceful.”
Nothing moves my soul like seeing nature in all her glory...
I love being surrounded by the water as we sail, paying attention to the headlands and tropical islands as we explore this coastline. I’ve been inspired by water and the ocean for two decades since my first solo exhibition in 2002.
On the other hand…
...in my art practice and life I’m interested in exploring and acknowledging how our minds work. How we can be somewhere physically, but our minds are often occupied with concerns about the future or memories from the past.
We can be standing in front of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring mountain, but we’re thinking about what our partner said or didn’t say, about how much money we’ll have in the bank at the end of the week, or about work we need to catch up on when we get home.
Instead of really being where we are and enjoying the gift of “being here”, we tend to miss the moment if we don't bring awareness around our mind’s natural tendency to wander off.
In 2008 I began to incorporate excerpts from my personal diaries into my art practice.
I use those excerpts as the titles of my paintings and am interested in how their juxtaposition with the imagery of the paintings often creates a disjuncture.
They rupture the ideological experience of pure landscape painting and give a small window for the viewer into my personal internal dialogue. Whether it was what I was thinking about that morning, or a snippet that usually comes from my travels, they provide an interesting space where the viewer is invited to experience their own inner world and form their own interpretation of the work.
As for creative rituals…
I have simple, yet effective and nourishing practices that feed my soul.
A cup of tea sipped quietly before I begin a new painting. A meditative walk with our Cavoodle puppy Lacey Jane. Hiking and taking photographs of nature. Or one of my favourites, a spontaneous trip away in our campervan to see fresh landscapes and new places.
Once I’m back in the studio, I’ll often begin with a colour that’s caught my eye while out exploring, and not knowing how the painting will end up, begin to apply the paint. Through the actual process of painting, the imagery takes form.
I don’t usually begin with a solid picture in mind...
...instead there’s a dance between my own internal visions, desires and aesthetics, and the materials, brushstrokes, and physicality of the very process of painting that informs how the painting will evolve.
Working in this way means each painting is a new adventure into the unknown.
Much like not knowing what exactly will happen when I go on a trip, each painting has its own hidden gems, and the challenge is to remain present and notice what’s happening in front of me; to work with, adapt and polish it into something that delights and captivates my eye.
What I love most about the creative process is...
... the way it reminds you to trust in the unknown, be courageous, follow your heart’s desires, listen to your intuition, stretch out of your comfort zone, and bring to life something that wasn’t there before.
When it comes to materials, I adore working with oil paints. They take a long time to dry, allowing me time to achieve the soft, atmospheric effects I’m after.
I also have been loving working with watercolours when I’m travelling, sailing or painting plein air. They are so lightweight, portable and exciting to work with.
One of my favourite moments is what I call the ‘first viewer experience’
That’s when I go into the studio with a steaming cup of tea and see what I’ve created the night before.
For that moment, I'm the viewer, no longer the artist. Whether the painting’s finished or not, whether it’s good or not, whether it’s how I remembered it or not, doesn’t actually matter. It’s a puzzle for my eye. Something to solve. It’s something new, that was never there before.
Then quite often, after being the viewer, an area or a mark will obviously need adjusting and I slip back into the mode of the artist. It’s time to get back to work and do another layer.
I find the whole process of painting challenging, puzzling & magical.
It keeps me hooked, longing to come back to the studio to see where it will lead and what will unfold next. I couldn’t imagine living any other way.
To see my exhibitions and a selection of my paintings please check out my portfolio.
Professional Biography
Nicola Newman was born in Cohuna, Victoria, in 1982 and moved to Queensland when she was eight years old. She gained a Bachelor of Fine Art from Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, in 2005 and now works full time as an artist, creative mentor and coach.
Newman’s work explores themes of landscape, nature, intimacy and memory. She exhibits her paintings in solo and group exhibitions in Australia and internationally. Selected solo exhibitions include Beyond the Horizon, Art Piece Gallery, Mullumbimby (2013); Cohuna Diaries, Anita Traverso Gallery, Melbourne (2009); With or With Drought You, Redland Art Gallery (2009); Over the Garden Fence, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery (2008); Today we don’t have plans, Anita Traverso Gallery, Melbourne (2008); Uncommonplace, in-Transit Gallery, Brisbane (2008); and Natural Instincts, Anita Traverso Gallery, Melbourne (2007). International highlights include the Orebro International Video Festival, Sweden (2008).
Newman was awarded the Espresso Garage Award for her video ‘It’s Cutting’ in the Thiess Art Prize (2006) and was a finalist in the Artworker Award 06, Redland Art Award (2006) and Churchie Emerging Art Award (2006).
The State Library of Queensland and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art have published catalogue essays written by Newman and her artwork is represented in public and corporate collections including the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery and Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital.
She lives between a 35-foot sailboat while cruising the east coast of Australia and her 1950s Queenslander home which she is restoring with her husband in North Queensland, Australia.