Written by Anna Itkonen
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Jennifer Carlson lives and works in picturesque Northern New South Wales. Her studio is perched amongst the trees overlooking the water and bushland, “My home is like a tree house,” she says. “I often sit watching through my large picture windows. It’s a meditative process, observing the changing colours, light and patterns in nature.”
Jennifer Carlson | Sandstorm I
An expressive and intuitive artist, Jennifer works in a range of mediums; from oils and acrylics to watercolours and clay. She works mainly with acrylic paints on her large-scale canvases as the quick-drying medium allows her to build layers of subtle colour, embedded with gestural and calligraphic marks. “At this point, acrylics seem to work best as they are more immediate, compared to the slow drying nature of oils.” As we chat she shares how she also enjoys the more portable process of working with watercolours when she’s sketching outside on location.
Falling | 46 x 35cm, Acrylic on canvas
In her mid-thirties, Jennifer found meditation and it has shaped her life ever since. She explains how developing a regular meditation practice helped build her mental and emotional skills to trust the process in her creative practice. Working intuitively, her paintings aren’t mapped out before she begins, so she relies on those skills to bring together the elements of colour, form and line in each of her lyrical compositions. “You step into a different world when you begin each new artwork. You start a journey and don’t know where you are going. You take one unknown step at a time.”
Fossil | 125 x 125cm, Acrylic & oil on canvas
Meditation has been both a part of her personal practice and the subject of her artwork in recent years. She approaches the canvas with spontaneous marks and patterns. Washes of muted colour create movement and paradoxically a sense of calm. “I love metallic touches. My paintings should be seen in daylight as they shift in tone and colour throughout the day, reflecting the dynamic shifts of light found in nature.”
Flowers in Motion Ill | 30 x 30cm, Acrylic on canvas
Jennifer’s artwork invites the viewer to connect with nature and their own inner world in a calm, centred and contemplative way. “Meditation makes you more sensitive to your surroundings,” she says. “I paint for the joy of painting. My hope is the viewer can take a moment to pause, become present and tune inwards, paying attention to how they feel in response to the work. Perhaps they might find a pause in their day to simply breathe in the joy of nature.”
Sandstorm lI | 105 x 105cm, Acrylic & oil on canvas
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