Sylvie Carter's introduction to art was cleaning paint off the high school art room sink while on detention.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
It wasn't until 30 years later when she picked up a paintbrush again, that she realised she wanted to be an artist.
"I was an executive search recruitment specialist and before that, I spent many years working in the nonprofit sector as a specialist fundraising manager," she said.
"So I was having these really busy nine to whatever time at night to get my work done days, and I knew that I should be doing something to bring out more of the creative side of me."
ALSO READ: Echidna caught roaming around town
Despite briefly taking sculpture as a high school subject, Ms Carter said when she picked up a pencil in 2007 she could barely even "draw a stick figure".
"My journey is not the same as a lot of other artists who started when they were four," she said.
Over the years she attended numerous short courses and taught herself to use oil paints. Now, at 60 years old, she has declared herself a full-time artist.
"I think what I want to show people is that even if you think you can't paint, you probably can, if you like solving problems, you're in essence, a budding artist because that's what artists do."
Ms Carter's upcoming exhibition highlights beautifully scenic spots between Canberra and Sydney, that in her words, "are off the tourist beat".
"It includes glimpses of running creeks, washed over grass and the wind-swept plains of the Eden-Monaro," she said.
There are 60 works which will feature between Rusten House Arts Centre in Queanbeyan and Lake George Winery.
The works span the past 10 years and Ms Carter said they demonstrate her "growth as an artist". In the past two years, she has had artworks selected as finalists for the Gallipoli Art Prize and the John Copes Portrait Prize.
The Rusten House exhibition will run from October 1 until October 22 then move to Lake George Winery until January 29, 2023. It will be included as part of the 2022 Arts Trail.
The exhibition will also include three short films and live painting demonstrations by Ms Carter.
Ms Carter is a plein air artist, meaning she has spent the past 10 years painting her environment while physically sitting among it.
"The exhibition is inspired by those places where I go and I immerse myself in painting nature," she said.
"There's nothing better than being immersed in nature to take your art to the next level."
Ms Carter said it took her years to work out the best way to paint outdoors having spent days lugging too much equipment or ending up painting the car as much as the canvas.
She said the key was packing light but packing the essentials; a bag for rubbish, big clips to hold things down and a good wet box to keep the car clean.
Including the creatures that surround her, whether insects, birds or occasionally humans, is an important aspect of her art, as well as depicting the "soul colours" of the landscape.
"Sometimes the bugs crawl and put themselves into my paintings," she said.
"We have so much rich colour in our landscape, even the rocks and the green bracken that grows on the rocks."
Ms Carter works with a brush and palette knife, using oils, watercolour and occasionally adding ink to increase the depth of some of her artworks.
"I don't know how to describe my style because it's almost a little bit impressionistic," she said.
"I'm inspired by artists like Condor and Fred Williams."
Over the past 10 years, Ms Carter has noticed how the landscape has changed from extremely dry to how the recent heavy rain has brought out lush greens.
"There is so much more variety of these little wildflowers that come out everywhere," she said.
"Also interestingly, I've noticed insects disappearing."
Having grown up on her parent's sheep farm, Ms Carter said the bush was "in her DNA".
"It's important to slow down and be in the moment and just absorb because we can miss so much, so quickly, particularly with such a fragile and unpredictable nature," she said.
Ms Carter said she had never held a solo exhibition.
"I've never really bothered to exhibit before because I was just doing it for me," she said.
"This exhibition is quite moving because I have to say goodbye to parts of my memory and it's really quite emotional."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark our website
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Google News
Make sure you are signed up for our breaking news and regular newsletters
