Julie Colbran
Artist Julie Colbran on a bushwalk with her painting kit.
How would you describe your arts practice?
My artistic endeavour is a curious ongoing process underpinned by a qualitative grounded theory approach which results in a gradually emerging visual product that reflects the impact of the intrinsic nature of natural forms. In order to complete a visual representation of natural forms in the environment for example, a large rock face I generally:
Take time to visit and experience a location, such as a bush locality
Avoid a preconceived idea of what I might encounter in the environment
Move slowly through that environment attending to the surroundings... geographical and geological features, animals and flora. I allow things to emerge and take note of them.
Photograph and note details of interest within the environment and ask myself questions… what can I see and hear, what am I observing? What does this thing or place mean? And ultimately ask...Ought I to photograph this? Is it a suitable subject for a painting?
I might return to the same location several times before taking specific photos of a tree or rock or boulder etc of interest that I might paint. Sometimes I will return to a location to paint en plein air. At other times if the subject or scene is large, I will paint from photos indoors.
What study (arts-related or otherwise) have you completed and has it influenced what or how you make art?
I have had a lifelong interest in fine arts, and I attended informal arts appreciation talks at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In the 1970s I completed some studies in dressmaking and fashion design at Sydney Technical College. From 1979-1984 studied at Mitchell College of Advanced Education Bathurst (now Charles Sturt University) and took units in arts and crafts.
Most of my interest in arts and crafts has ranged from classical historical fashions and arts through the all-encompassing Art Deco period to the perennial and contemporary art and crafts of first nations in current-day Australia.
What do you find most inspiring about your art space?
The outside environment is for me the ultimate inspiration where the interplay of time and natural elements and forces have shaped our world and provided the fundamentals for living things.
What does a studio day in your life look like?
For the most part I open the room before breakfast and decide what I will need for the day. Afterwards I make some preliminary notes and/ or colour mixes for trial on a palette. The experience of being outdoors allows me to follow my chosen photo relatively easily. Sometimes I find that the weather or season is not clearly evident in the photo and so make adjustments from memory. I will usually make outlines on canvas in a faint sepia and clean off until the basic outlines are satisfactory. With an early working I will prepare a first ground on the canvas. I paint until there is no more that can be done on a given day. A wet canvas is left to air firstly on a covered porch for some days then when ready brought inside for more additions. A large canvas might take up to five or six months to complete during which I will start and/or finish other canvases.
I usually work through daylight hours any day of the week.
How would you say you have grown as an artist since starting out?
Being a self-directed painter, I began with words and colours, colour experimentation in watercolour, drawing exercises mainly of repetitive patterns, paintings printed sheets of black-and-white photographs, small palette watercolours or crayons or scenes in small-size notebooks, ink drawing of outlines of scenes, rocks and topography. I then began to draw and paint birds and trees from photos taken. A move towards oils began around ten years. At present I paint ink and watercolour trees, oils of local scenes and larger scale oils of rocks and rock outcrops... mostly of the Canberra region.
Artist Julie Colbran working en plein air.
What would you say is the main driving force that compels you to make? For example, is it in the act of making or an idea or theme that you want to explore?
Exposure to the outside environment impels me to convey experience. The impact of adventure, adversity and endurance produce unavoidable changes within me which result in the expression of an art piece. I filter out imagination and immerse myself in what is tangible.
I am drawn to produce visual art for several reasons: as a record of a place or thing of impact or beauty ; to provide an opportunity for others to see or remember places or subjects that might be of interest; and to provide an ongoing representation of a scene or subject that might become changed over time.
What do you read, watch, listen to or do to stay inspired?
Often listen to music, mostly game-players scores (eg. Final Fantasy) or contemporary classical composers (Gifford, Westlake, Koehne). And yes, even Morricone or Vaughan Williams.
Nature and sensate experiences inspire me.