Painting, Fashion and Photography
This artist wisely followed the advice printed on a salt packet: Make your passion your profession.
Painting, fashion and photography. These are the forces that drive my working life as an artist. Every piece of work I produce can be distilled down to this triumvirate of pursuits I’m so passionate about.
In terms of fashion, I’ve always been drawn to past eras more so than contemporary fare. I’ve collected many beautiful vintage dresses over the years and these are my props. My friends thankfully pose for me. I style them, adorn them with jewels and photograph them. I’ve been very lucky to have friends who enjoy posing and who are perfect models. I then work from my photos. I always enjoyed taking my own photos for my paintings, however more recently my friend Elizabeth Willis (a talented photographer) and I have worked together to create beautiful scenes for me to paint. It’s great collaborating and I can concentrate on the styling and pose of my model.
The photographed image has always held great allure. I receive great joy photographing my models and creating a scene. My inspiration
and ideas come from old movies where the actresses wore divine dresses, or haute couture- Valentino is a favourite or the pages of Vogue...i’m a great fan of fashion magazines and beautiful imagery of beautiful women. This is a constant source. I try to create a story, however more often than not I’m content to paint a woman in a simple pose. My interest is more in the creation of something beautiful than the creation of a story. Fabrics excite me: lace, satin, the more intricate the better. Painting with oils allows a softer, more fluid approach for me than acrylics.
My painting technique has developed over the years and my current practice is fairly consistent now. Once I have laboured over an image, cropping or colour changing it, and I’m satisfied with the photographic quality, I am ready to paint. The finalised printed photo is used as reference. I draw this onto the canvas and try to achieve a level of realism befitting the image. I begin with an acrylic under painting quite roughly painted and then work up to more detail once I’m painting with oils. I use my ipad as a tool to zoom into the photo to see the tiny details of the corner of the lips for example. I find this has helped me improve when it comes to detail. I have the photograph and the ipad beside me and reference both. The ipad also represents my photos with light behind the image which gives me much greater depth
of light and brighter colours. Your reference is most important when it comes to realism.
I cannot emphasise enough the importance of learning from your peers or the masters. I admire many artists, gain great inspiration and learn much from them. The Brisbane arts scene has a number of emerging artists I follow closely and am friends with. These associates have taught me much about oils and their properties. Two close collaborators, Raymond Cheney and Andy Wild, have been inspirational and cross paths with me often. I’ve exhibited with both of them many times and one show we organised together in 2011 at Graydon Gallery in Brisbane was a great personal success. I have many artist friends and we love getting together and talking art, sharing our stories.
Learning from established artists is gold dust. I went to a weekend workshop with James Guppy some time ago and gained much knowledge. Painting with others is the best way to improve yourself.
My favourite artist, the late John Singer Sargent, brings great inspiration and a hopeful dream to paint with such loose brushstrokes. American artist Pino I admire greatly and Australian artist Robert Hannaford to name a few. I admire many artists but in particular artists who paint portraiture. I’m fascinated with how Sargent achieved realism without rigid, fine details.
Art from a young age was my dominant talent, and I drew as often as I could. In primary school my teachers would ask me to draw posters for our classroom and on one occasion I remember drawing a full size skeleton for our science wall. By secondary school my passion for art grew stronger. I often painted until the
early hours of the morn because my family had retired for the evening and it was my quiet time to be creative and make a mess of our dining room table. My goal during high school was to be accepted into the Queensland College of Art, so my folio grew over the last few years of school and I was awarded the top award for art in years 10, 11 and 12 and a commendation in both The
Minister’s Award for excellence in art and the Coca Cola Excellence in Youth art award in 1990. The school library acquired one of my paintings.
In 1991 I was accepted into QCA to study commercial art, however during the course I realised that computer generated graphic design wasn’t for me. I was dissatisfied and missed painting freely. For 10 years following art college I fell very unwell and was too sick to paint. I improved slowly and not fully recovered by 2002 began painting again. I was selling acrylic flower paintings in a little shop called Chocol’art in Montville and started entering the Courier Mail Art shows. In 2004 a good friend held my first solo exhibition at Coomera of my large flower paintings. I was
commissioned at the time to paint Kato, Dreamworld’s favourite tiger for its reception and the Springwood Hotel bought a painting which still hangs in its foyer.
I always knew I wanted to be an artist full time and after this show I wanted to make it happen. I wasn’t well enough to take on a full time job doing something else and at the time I was living with my Mum. My health was still unpredictable and painting was my perfect solace. I painted when I could and rested when I couldn’t. Mum was my greatest fan and encouraged me to continue in my pursuit. My then partner Cameron, who is now my husband, always believed we should do what we love so he also supported my pursuits.
Shortly after this show I met Andy Wild, a wonderful oil painter who introduced me to oils which I loved. I started exhibiting with Charles Ginn Gallery in Brisbane. The owners, Geoff and Glenda were both artists and were encouraging and passionate about art. We enjoyed about five years of both solo and group exhibitions. During this time I also exhibited with Artworks Gallery on the Gold Coast. I started to paint women instead of flowers and have painted this subject ever since.
In 2008 I sought representation in Melbourne and visited many galleries with my folio. I was so excited when Metro 5 Gallery in High Street offered me a solo exhibition alongside Zhong Chen. My show sold out. A prominent contributor to the arts, John Playfoot, bought two of my pieces. I was then offered representation with Jackman Gallery in St Kilda, Melbourne and have enjoyed three solo exhibitions and group exhibitions with them since then. Gallery 2120, owned by Michael
Graham, an art collector in Brisbane, represented me with great success during 2008 and 2009 before closing in 2010. Since then I’ve been represented by Anthea Polson Art Gallery on the Gold Coast and Jackman Gallery. I’m very fortunate to have a great relationship with both galleries.
My husband and I moved to Northern NSW in 2010. We love the beach and wanted to live near it. I exhibited my work with Windhorse Gallery in Bangalow and had the pleasure of working there one day per week for about a year. I met many local artists and loved talking to people about art. Peter Mortimore and his wife Carolyn are passionate about art in Australia. Peter is another great painter who inspires me.
My husband and I have just started a picture framing business from our home in Pottsville and at the same time have decided to sell framed reproductions of my paintings. We are in the process of setting up the business online but for now I’m selling them through my Artist Corinne Lewis Facebook page. Mark from Art House Reproductions in Brisbane has been photographing my paintings and achieving a perfect Giclee reproduction of each. We can stretch them on canvas or print them on archival paper. I’m excited about this new venture and working with Cameron framing my work has been wonderful. Cameron has been making my canvases for 10 years so I’m very lucky.
I always remember a quote I found on a salt packet: Make your passion your profession.
Happy Painting Website: www.corinnelewis.com.au Facebook: Artist Corinne Lewis ■