Meet Australian Artist Melanie Waugh

Meet KAB Gallery Artist Melanie Waugh

Melanie is an annual participant in the 5 Lands Walk Plein Air Artist Group

See Melanie Waugh’s paintings – Click here

I grew up in Bellingen, in northern NSW, and moved to Sydney at eighteen to attend the National Art School. In 2004 and 2005 I had solo exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne that documented my memories of swimming in the rivers around Bellingen. In 2007 I completed a Masters Of Fine Arts at The College of Fine Arts.

From 2008 to 2010 I lived and worked on the Carribean island of Barbados. When I returned to Sydney in 2011 I was awarded the Curwoods residency which provided a studio space for a year, right in the middle of Sydney’s CBD. Here I created an exhibition about my time in the Carribean, working from the sketches and watercolours I had produced whilst living there. My bright and colourful palette lent itself well to depicting my memories of the tropical Caribbean landscape, with its cool aqua waters and vividly painted homes.

At the end of 2012 whilst working on a boat I travelled to the Arctic and through the Northwest Passage. I am currently in the process of creating an exhibition of this icy wonderland, continuing my fascination with water albeit in a very different form.

Whilst maintaining my own daily practice I am now also teaching painting and drawing. If I don’t get the chance to make it into my studio in Surry Hills, which is above a karaoke bar, I get out my watercolours for half an hour after dinner grabbing any chance I can to paint.

I’m very interested in colour relationships and the magic that happens when you place one colour next to the other. I’m interested in the physicality of painting and I hope this is evident in my work. I have a loose painting style and I enjoy making brush marks that are bold and direct.

2015 will be my third year taking part in the Terrigal Plein Air day. I enjoy this day as it combines my two favourite things, the Australian coastline and plein air painting. Because of my fascination with the tropics and ‘fun in the sun’ the location is perfect for me.

Last year I chose to depict the festival’s colourful celebratory flags, which were right on the beach, resulting in the paintings Terrigal Festival I and Terrigal Festival II. I like to think my most successful works are created under an imposed time limit, which is one of the things I enjoy most about painting outdoors. I am forced to paint quickly whilst struggling with the changing conditions. For me the time limit encourages quick decision making which results in fresher, more spontaneous paintings.