Giant cockatoos swoop on Cradle

AN internationally renowned artist is making her mark in the state’s North-West.

The Broome-based street artist, who goes by the name Sobrane, and is now a parttime Tasmanian resident, has spent the long weekend painting a flight of yellowtail black cockatoos on a 24m wall at Cradle Mountain Hotel.

The yellowtails are a very graceful bird, they glide and float and it’s just beautiful

The work, which livens up the front wall of the Cradle Mountain Wilderness Gallery, captures yellowtail cockatoos with King Billy pines.

It was part of a three-week residency, with an exhibition which runs until June 24 at the gallery.

“The yellowtails are a very graceful bird, they glide and float and it’s just beautiful. I was trying to capture that with the two birds flying,’’ Sobrane said.

The artist has also created a work featuring Tasmanian devils, using coffee, acrylic and spray paint for the exhibition. She said espresso poured on paint and charcoal caused a blurring effect which could give a “little bit of edge” to dark-coloured animals.

“Exploring in new mediums is always fulfilling. Coffee gives the artwork an edge required for some animals, like the devil,” she said.

Sobrane recently purchased a hall on the West Coast and uses it as studio space to create successful exhibitions, including last year’s Asia Contemporary Art Show in Hong Kong.

Her distinctive style has also livened up silos at Tungamah in Victoria with brolgas and a kookaburra.