There is something deeply beautiful and ancient about Australian eucalypt trees silhouetted at dusk and against the night sky. Their forests are dependent on fire as an essential part of the life cycle and regeneration. Ash is the personification of the devastation brought by fire, where her seeds and flowers can blossom in the new sunlight created in the aftermath.

The post BLACK TREETOPS BLOSSOM appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

[STAY GOLD series]
Acrylic on canvas, unframed
61 x 76cm
April 2018

The paint is metallic in places (hair, roses, nails) and changes in different light which explains the three photo variations in colour and tone. Photo 1 is by a professional photgrapher, photo 2 is in daylight, photo 3 is after dark.

The post ROSES appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

[SUBLURBAN FLORA series]

Acrylic on canvas (unframed)

30 x 30cm

March 2018

Bougainvillea is an ornamental plant which loves light and warmth. A flowering machine, it blooms in a fiery explosion of colour and is hardy, tough and versatile. A closer look reveals that its heart-shaped leaves are paper thin and its scrambling branches are full of thorns.

Near Wild Blooms explore strength and vulnerability and reflect upon Briar’s past (1), present (2) and future (3).

Available individually or as a triptych at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, 21-25 March, in the Thou Art Mum exhibition section on the mezzanine floor of the Royal Exhibition Building.

The post NEAR WILD BLOOMS 3 (FUTURE) appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

[SUBLURBAN FLORA series]

Acrylic on canvas (unframed)

30 x 30cm

March 2018

Bougainvillea is an ornamental plant which loves light and warmth. A flowering machine, it blooms in a fiery explosion of colour and is hardy, tough and versatile. A closer look reveals that its heart-shaped leaves are paper thin and its scrambling branches are full of thorns.

Near Wild Blooms explore strength and vulnerability and reflect upon Briar’s past (1), present (2) and future (3).

Available individually or as a triptych at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, 21-25 March, in the Thou Art Mum exhibition section on the mezzanine floor of the Royal Exhibition Building.

The post NEAR WILD BLOOMS 1 (PAST) appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

[STAY GOLD series]

Acrylic on canvas (unframed)

50.5 x 50.5cm

February 2018

Heathcliff, it’s me, Coralie. Come home, I’m so cold. Let me in through your window. ~ Kate Bush

So, millenials, before Lorde there was Kate Bush. Things I have in common with this babooshka: born in Kent, went to school in Ashford, lived in Eltham (London, Straya… whatevs), read Wuthering Heights, and became the first female artist to achieve a UK number one with a self-written song, aged just 19. Last one just Kate actually. Also technically 1978.

The woman with burning sunset eyes is called Coralie. At first I thought Coral because it sounds a bit Eighties, but I think she’s on a French beach in the Med so… you know. Then I googled it: “Coralie” is a popular 19th century jewel baby name from the name of the pink semi-precious sea growth used to make jewellery and ornaments. Cha-ching! We’re on the same page.

INSTANT ORANGE CRUSH is inspired by sun worship, the beach sunsets of oversized 1980s wallpaper posters and the overblown pop love songs by empowered diva heroines of the same decade. It explores the nostalgia we feel for past loves through rose tinted sunglasses and questions the idea that nothing gold can stay.

This painting has been powered by Whitney, Tina, Annie, Madonna and Kate.

The post INSTANT ORANGE CRUSH appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

[STAY GOLD series]

Acrylic on canvas (unframed)

February 2018

This is a story I didn’t know I would tell today on Valentine’s Day and I haven’t even said anything about censorship yet!

The story goes that about a year ago a lovely lady on the other side of town started looking out for art. She didn’t see anything she loved until she was struck by cupid’s arrow when she came across Venus on a chance hashtag. What ARE the chances, I ask? Yes, again. I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky because The Underdog is now SOLD to the lovely lady! And do you know what, this love story gives me those goddam dopamine butterflies.

14 February 2018

NSFW (Not Suitable For Work) Group Art Exhibition at BSIDE Gallery 28 February – 4 March

NSFW features artworks at BSIDE Gallery by 34 Melbourne artists in the form of paintings, drawings and digital artwork. Don’t bring your Nanna along to this one! NSFW is a group exhibition that will shock, appal, and excite. Exploring the notion that certain topics are not suitable for work, these artists will delve into the depths of the socially inappropriate. With censorship inhibiting artistic expression more than ever, this show aims to tear down the walls and prompt discussion about all the nitty-gritty bits. This is brutally honest, insightful, confronting and unashamed.

The Underdog explores both the way a woman sees herself and the way she is perceived at the end of mastectomy and reconstruction, whether the surgery is prophylactic or due to breast cancer. The censorship by social media of breasts, and nipples in particular, negatively impacts upon the visual resources available to 1 in 8 women with a need to know. Attitudes to baring all in a show and tell motion are being slowly, proudly and positively broken down by a host of empowered, self-proclaimed topless activists and cancer warriors.

This painting is part of the series, Stay Gold, where the story and the memory become as beautiful and as valuable as the gold in a sea of nuggets. In this case the scars are the stories and the gold celebrates staying true to yourself. The pink represents all women impacted by breast cancer.

The post THE UNDERDOG appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

Acrylic on canvas (unframed)

This is Julie-mermie, otherwise known as talented Melbourne artist and jewellery maker Fickle Nellie. She is just as beautiful as a mermaid as she is in real life. (Maybe not quite so pale.)

Inspired by Shirley-mermie, SNARE, this commission was a joy to complete. It is also a surprise gift for Julie’s wedding anniversary: yes, she is his fintastic catch of two decades!

The post FLOW THROUGH ME appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

COMMISSION

ACRYLIC ON CANVAS (UNFRAMED)

40.5 X 30.5 CM

DECEMBER 2017

Lavender blue, Tilly Tilly, lavender green. When I am king, Tilly Tilly, you will be queen. ~ Sammy Turner.

It’s interesting that I chose a background of lavender and this nursery rhyme because her mother would sing it to her when she was a baby! I changed the words to fit Matilda, a sweet little commission finished in time for a new bedroom in a new house this Christmas. This little girl loves purple and pink. She’s now 18 months older from when I started (I can explain!) so I tried to add a little age to her face. As ever with these things, she looks better face to face rather than face to screen.

The post MATILDA appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

Acrylic on fine art paper

30 x 45cm (unframed)

November 2017

This underwater love was commissioned by a husband as a surprise birthday present for his wife. She had really liked Sink Back Into The Ocean 1, an underwater mermaid, sold at Thou Art Mum Green With Envy exhibition in August 2017. Together we worked on finding an image he thought she would connect with and then a little bit harder on keeping it a secret!

The post WATERFALL appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.

BREATHE series

[Shirley Manson as a mermaid.]

Acrylic on canvas (unframed)

30 x 30 cm

Thou Art Mum exhibition GRIDS, 2 December 2017 – 31 January 2018, The Vines Cafe, Diamond Creek

I painted Shirley Manson as a mermaid caught in a net after hearing her discuss feminism (equality) and the idea that there is a global movement towards eradicating women’s rights.

Today’s world is quite different to the one I thought it would be when I was studying at uni in the Nineties and listening to Stupid Girl, a song about female empowerment. Twenty years on I feel angry and helpless about it, floating and drowning in my usual mermie way.

SNARE is an exploration of the daily fight for rights by women in a society which is more caught up than ever in the superficiality of what women look like and not the importance of what they are made of.

The post SNARE appeared first on Pascale Garlinge Art.