Series J 0019 - 2206 - Kathy Ellem
- 3 years ago
Colour in Your Life featured artist Anita Nevar appeared on Colour In Your Life Season Twenty Two (22).
Read a little bit about the artist here, and support our site by joining and watching the episode below.
Kathy Ellem is a realist painter, known for her depictions of Australian rural life. Based in North East Victoria, Kathy has become well-regarded as an equestrian artist, with a passion for painting draught horses. Kathy began painting and sculpting full-time in 2009, and since this time, she has exhibited at least twice a year or more.
Kathy Ellem grew up on her family’s apple orchard in Beechworth. After finishing school she thought the logical path would be to complete a Biology Degree with a major in plant science. She took a ‘gap year’ on an agricultural exchange program to Canada, where she met her future husband Chris, whom she would eventually join on his family’s farm in central Queensland. Kathy began painting after she and Chris took on their own 20,000 acre property in south-west Queensland in 2003. She spent many years pursuing a variety of career paths, including high school teaching and financial planning, but it wasn't until she picked up a paint brush that she finally found what she was put here to do. Kathy also needed a creative outlet to counterbalance the struggles of rural life, which befell our farm with alarming regularity (combating droughts, wild dogs, and endless weed infestations was a part of daily life).
Kathy took her first workshop in oil painting with Wolfgang ‘Bill’ Sass, and found that painting didn’t come naturally: developing technical proficiency was something she had to pursue with dogged determination. With further tuition under seasoned realist painters John Wilson and Lyn Diefenbach, she honed her skills, learning to paint in both oil and acrylic, on canvas and linen.
Since this time, Kathy’s painting style has developed into a blend of photographic realism combined with dense painterly detail that only appears on closer inspection. Mark-making remains important to her creative practice — especially the act of ‘loading the brush’ with the right combination of colours, in which she often applies several unblended colours at once. Kathy believes that far more than colour, creating the right tone to express light and shadow, is the most important technical aspect of her work. On a deeper level, she believes that if she puts positive energy into her work as she paints, it will permeate the space where the painting is hung.
Kathy’s creative intent remains simple. The world we live in today is full of fear and anger. Rather than add to it, she wants to create works which balance that out. Kathy wants people to look at her paintings and feel uplifted; to feel a sense of joy. She also wants people viewing her paintings to feel connected to life in rural Australia in a positive way.
After 20 years in the Queensland ‘outback’, in 2015, Kathy moved back to North East Victoria with Chris and their two
Read a little bit about the artist here, and support our site by joining and watching the episode below.
Kathy Ellem is a realist painter, known for her depictions of Australian rural life. Based in North East Victoria, Kathy has become well-regarded as an equestrian artist, with a passion for painting draught horses. Kathy began painting and sculpting full-time in 2009, and since this time, she has exhibited at least twice a year or more.
Kathy Ellem grew up on her family’s apple orchard in Beechworth. After finishing school she thought the logical path would be to complete a Biology Degree with a major in plant science. She took a ‘gap year’ on an agricultural exchange program to Canada, where she met her future husband Chris, whom she would eventually join on his family’s farm in central Queensland. Kathy began painting after she and Chris took on their own 20,000 acre property in south-west Queensland in 2003. She spent many years pursuing a variety of career paths, including high school teaching and financial planning, but it wasn't until she picked up a paint brush that she finally found what she was put here to do. Kathy also needed a creative outlet to counterbalance the struggles of rural life, which befell our farm with alarming regularity (combating droughts, wild dogs, and endless weed infestations was a part of daily life).
Kathy took her first workshop in oil painting with Wolfgang ‘Bill’ Sass, and found that painting didn’t come naturally: developing technical proficiency was something she had to pursue with dogged determination. With further tuition under seasoned realist painters John Wilson and Lyn Diefenbach, she honed her skills, learning to paint in both oil and acrylic, on canvas and linen.
Since this time, Kathy’s painting style has developed into a blend of photographic realism combined with dense painterly detail that only appears on closer inspection. Mark-making remains important to her creative practice — especially the act of ‘loading the brush’ with the right combination of colours, in which she often applies several unblended colours at once. Kathy believes that far more than colour, creating the right tone to express light and shadow, is the most important technical aspect of her work. On a deeper level, she believes that if she puts positive energy into her work as she paints, it will permeate the space where the painting is hung.
Kathy’s creative intent remains simple. The world we live in today is full of fear and anger. Rather than add to it, she wants to create works which balance that out. Kathy wants people to look at her paintings and feel uplifted; to feel a sense of joy. She also wants people viewing her paintings to feel connected to life in rural Australia in a positive way.
After 20 years in the Queensland ‘outback’, in 2015, Kathy moved back to North East Victoria with Chris and their two