Valerie Clark Art- Home

Update:
Progress?
I dont have a clue.
Do I care?
No!
I'll just continue playtime until it tells me to stop.😊
A work in progress. (WIP)
I am on a self imposed 'a dab a day' journey with this mixed media work.
It's been a wild but fun ride so far!
I think the actual journey of the process of creating my work is the 'real buzz' and not so much the finished result, although that too has to be 100% comfortable for me to say 'done'.
Artist friends:
What is your feeling about your process in making art?
I'd love to hear how you think about it, and what it is that tells you your work is 'Done'?
🎨🖌🖍

Seashells, Southern Ocean Eddie's and flows and endless shifting sands. Prompted intuitively by the hours I have spent roaming the beaches of the West Coast of Tasmania.

Acrylic ink is a joy to work with. I love the soft drippy marks and pops of pink

Recently my art practice has included using acrylic ink in the initial layers. Usually it disappears under further layers of acrylic paint and sometimes collage but the fluid effects are an exciting start!

Over the next few weeks there will be new work added to this page.
All my work is for purchase.
Feel welcome to contact me to discuss

Loving the whimsical floaty feel of this bright cheery little work

It is a long time since I used fleuro colours in my work but I think this work in progress has relit the fire!

I'm taking a little break from acrylic abstracts and am playing with watercolour on small pieces of paper.
Such a lovely medium and so full of happy surprises!🎨🌹🥳

Loved my experience at Island Vibe Festival.
Please help this great 3 day fest keep going by signing the petition. Thanks fellow Vibe Tribe!🌹👍😊💃🕺🧘‍♀️🧘‍♂️

Can you spare a minute to help valerie riches? 259 signatures are still needed! Save Island Vibe Festival

Sand Rocks and Rolling Surf =
Sea Glass Gems
Acrylic paint and mixed medium.
7 pieces of actual Sea Glass are also attached to this painting.
40.5cm deep x 50cm wide
Was $450
Now $300
I have been a bit attached to this little one for a while and reluctant to let her go to a new forever home until recently.
It was such fun to let this painting do its own thing and evolve into a more traditional sea scape rather than the totally abstract painting I had set out to create in the first place.

If you would really love to own this painting please DM or text me.

Very quiet at the local market today.
Looks like I'm stocked up for life with a big box of cards sporting my little abstract bits. Family and friends you will love em!🥳😅
I'm really very chuffed to say the little Disturbance in the Red Centre painting (pictured) sold and left the market to go to her forever home with a really lovely couple.

'The Stillness of Winter'
Acrylic and mixed medium.
51cm wide X 61cm high
Was $475
Now available to buy for $275 (plus postage)
If you would really love to own it please DM or txt me.
(SOLD)

Relaxation play.
Sometimes doodles are what is needed to shake off the studio glums...or a stint in the garden pulling weeds is bound to send me scurrying to my studio sanctuary too 😅

Prepping time with the gelli prints. They are going into little cardboard toddler books for a display table Im planning for my Open Studio during the iam_straddie Arts Trail. Busy times ahead!😊🌻🎨🖌

I've been playing in the studio with and lots of old and new friends. The is on Day Four so lets see what happens to this bigger than usual canvas today!😊😅

Happy New Year 2022 to you all!
🥳🌻🍾🥂
I hope it brings you health and all good things.

As its still the first month of the year I thought it timely to do a little update as to what my plans for this year are.
But firstly it is very important that in the spirit of reconciliation I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community.
I pay my respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
I acknowledge and to this day treasure the welcome the aboriginal community of the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi people gave me when I arrived on Tjerrangerri/Minjerribah/Straddie on 08/01/1972.


Its been a while since I opened this page and I've been pretty quiet on it I admit.
Til now!😊

I'm looking forward to getting a lot more work done this year.
I didn't make any New Year resolutions per sè but I did write a review of my 2021 art journey, and considered what I am grateful for, and what goals I would like to achieve in 2022.
I'm grateful to each of you who have commented on or 'liked' my work.
Thank you.
You encourage me!
I'm grateful for my art colleagues, and the support they and my family afford me.
I'm grateful to my tutors from over the past 2 and a 1/2 years.
They have revived me and welcomed me back to the art inn of happiness! 😊
Again and again over the years I have had a deep, enduring and warm feeling of gratitude toward all my tutors since my art journey began in earnest in 1978, many of them have passed but always I am grateful to them.

♡Challenging as it might be for me my goals for 2022 are:

• To create a body of work to present in an open studio event at my home in September 2022

• To complete the Red Series I am presently working on.
That series has expanded from 2 to 5 pieces now and is growing. My exploration of Red was birthed in the Northern Territory in Australia in June and September of 2021.
I absolutely fell in love with the Red Centre and the reds in the rocks, escarpments and earth in the Kakadu region.

• To start a new Blue Series which will pay homage to the beautiful Island I live on. The blues I observe on a daily basis in the Pacific Ocean and in Moreton Bay and the wide uninterrupted skies still captivate me, even though I passed 50 years of residence on this country on 08/01/2022.
I see blues in the nature on land and in the sea too.

• The featured painting in this post was prompted by the sunny blue spring skies, and the colours nature throws against it.
That painting sold early last year but a hankering to do a series in blue has continued to peck away in my mind.

• I have one Autumn painting started prompted by the inspiration I felt while doing my 'old lady in the van' 3 month trip around Tasmania which began on the 18th of March and ended in the first week of June.
Apparently one cannot stay immersed in such wonderous Autumn colours for so long without getting out the warm palette to have a go at capturing something of the feelings and memories!

Ancient Birthing in the Red Centre
Medium: Acrylic and mixed media
Price$140.00
Ph: 0419727588
E: [email protected]
(SOLD)

Summer's splendor by the sea.
Acrylic and pen on canvas 16"W x12"H

Exploring the colour red has been an interesting journey so far.
The Red Centre in the Northern Territory is certainly a place that leaves a very red stain on ones memories of time spent there.
These 4 were fun to work on, and stepping out of 'just paint' to experiment with glass bead paste to put some sand like texture in along with a bit of collage was something fun and different to try.

Exploring the colour red, texture and temperature.
I experienced a very definite vibration emanating from the land and rock of the Northern Territory.
The urge to depict some wandering into my paintings continues.
Perhaps this is my voice.

The Rock.
Gouache and watercolour on watercolour paper.

A combination of spending many starry starry nights 🎶... and warm sunny days🧡 immersed in this country has had a profound impact on this ocean girls psyche.
My imagination ran riot in this ancient land as I contemplated the deep historical meaning of the people and places I was so privileged to sit with and ponder.

Trails in the Northern forests and desert.
Gouache and watercolour on watercolour paper.
I think both Kakadu and the Red Centre have played into this painting. The colours of the rock faces and waterholes were a continual source of fascination and joy for me.

Red Centre trails and imaginings. Gouache on water colour paper.

Wandering in the Red Centre of Australia is a heartwarming and very spiritual experience. I love the deep red colours and the warm sand and rocks of this area. So much to ponder and explore.
I painted this little piece on paper with Gouache.

Update....this little painting is now featured on 5 cards.
See photo below😊
Acrylic and Posca pens on paper
Title:
'Plastic Oceans'
All year round, every year plastics of all variations pour into our waterways and oceans.
We are all aware of this tragedy, and some of us do our best to reduce the plastic we use, and take a mindful pause before disposing of it.
Sadly many do not, including big business.
Online shopping has escalated the use of plastic.
I pondered all this over Christmas, even the baubles and tinsel and lights on our trees are plastic.
And yes, Acrylic paint is plastic!😬
No, we can't escape it, but we can be careful about where it goes when we are done with it.

Acrylic on paper
Title:
'Roaming the Himalaya'
The process I followed for this painting was long and winding, nearly as long as the Himal treks I've done! A lot of conceal and reveal happened, along with many variations in colour.
The impasto areas in my painting result from discovering South Australian artist, Katie Wyatt's skill in painting with impasto during an art course I did recently. The students were being encouraged to 'steal like an artist'. I went searching for artists to steal from😊
I found Katie Wyatt.
I discovered I love messing about with gooey sticky impasto to make my own shapes and 'structures'.

Collage, paint, paint pens and ink pens were used to make this painting. It was a lot of fun to do, and I surprised myself that it has a kind of 'Comic Book' feel to it.