Featured Artist Carole Elliott

Australian artist Carole Elliott captures the elusiveness of a wave, the translucency of the water and embrace the sweeping grandeur of the coastline. See more of her work by visiting her website.

 

 

I have been painting and exhibiting for approximately twenty-four years, commencing with a community art course when my children were small. After completing the drawing part of the course, they introduced a paintbrush and I decided it wasn’t for me after all. My brother suggested I try soft pastels and I instantly fell in love with them, continuing with pastels for the next twenty years. After a while I had a short play with acrylics, but their fast drying properties didn’t allow me to blend the colours the same as my beloved pastels so I packed them away.

 

 

I’ve been drawn to the ocean from my first arrival in Australia from England at the age of ten. It was a natural progression with my art that I became an ocean artist, and I try to share what inspires me about our beautiful Australian coastline with viewers of my works.

 

 

Achieving the translucency of an early morning wave, reflections of the cliffs in the wet sand, or seagulls flying overhead with the salty spray filling the air, are all tests of my skills in my chosen medium of pastels.

 

 

I have been involved in group, joint and solo exhibitions, as well as having articles and demonstration paintings included in the Artist’s Palette magazine, with one of my pastels “Wet & Wild” making it onto the cover. My artworks are represented in private and corporate collections throughout Australia and overseas, and my recent art talk at Finite Gallery can be viewed on my Youtube channel.

 

 

Approximately two years ago I made friends with the paintbrush that I had managed to avoid for twenty years. I read about interactive acrylics that promised better blending abilities and have been using them since then. I am enjoying their flexibility and have spent the last two years honing my skills in using this new medium.

 

 

Whether it is ocean birds, seascapes, shallow water, splattering in the waves, reflections on the sand or underwater scenes, I’m enjoying trying to replicate my pastel achievements in acrylics.

 

 

I retired from full-time work three years ago and now my husband and I travel in our caravan to Far North Queensland each year to escape the winter. While we were in Townsville, we visited a turtle hospital and I decided to work on a series of turtle paintings to support organisations that rescue and rehabilitate endangered turtles. Now, when we travel in our caravan, I take along my painting gear and work on my turtles in my “studio under the awning.”

 

 

As a result of my work to support endangered turtles, I am proud to have been accepted as a member of the International Ocean Artists Society based in California, whose motto is “Using Ocean Art to inspire people around the world to a greater awareness of our need to preserve our natural world.”

 

 

One of my turtle paintings, “His Favourite Spot,” is now held in their permanent collection for future exhibition.

 

Artist Carole Elliott invites you to follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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