|
Winged & Wild 2010
Wendi's solo exhibition
Winged & Wild
was
held at
Beach Art Gallery which
has moved to
Stockbank House
at
233
Princes Highway, Bulli
(corner of Park Road, right at the
traffic lights)
The exhibition ran from
Saturday, May 1st till 4pm on Saturday,
May 29th.
View a selection
of the paintings here...
Wendi Reis’ latest solo art exhibition, Winged & Wild,
at Beach Art, Princes Hwy, Bulli, is dedicated to
Australian native animals and birds. Wendi is well known
in the Illawarra for her beautiful seascapes of the
local area but in this exhibition there are no seascapes
in sight… just paintings of our colourful winged friends
as well as nocturnal visitors which frequent our
gardens.
This is a subject close to the artist’s heart as she
runs a small shelter for abandoned and neglected animals
and sometimes animals that have been left homeless
through their owner’s death or illness. Wendi was the
recipient of a 2009 Healthy Cities Illawarra award for
her dedication in campaigning and caring for homeless
animals. The money raised from the sale of her paintings
is used for veterinary care and feeding of these
animals.
From her paintings, her love for wildlife and respect
for their environment is evident. Great care has been
taken in the painting of every feather, tuft of fur and
frond of foliage.
Inspiration has come from the numerous visitations of
parrots, magpies and even butterflies to the artist’s
garden. Butterflies are the subject of two of the
paintings in the exhibition. The artist has captured the
transient beauty of these gossamer-winged guests who
frequent the most colourful flowers in the garden.
One painting that steps outside the artist’s local
environment was inspired by a trip to the Blue
Mountains. Ms Reis was captivated by the sight of a
group of King Parrots feeding on a rocky ledge at the
base of a waterfall. Their vivid colours contrast
starkly with the darkness of the rocky shadow in the
waterfall like jewels on black silk.
Possums peer from their leafy vantage point, a rainbow
lorikeet hangs from a bottlebrush branch, king parrots
show off their brilliant plumage and our much loved
iconic kookaburra surveys its domain. A pair of swamp
wallabies is captured on canvas as they pause to gaze
across the sun burnt Australian landscape.
Ms Reis’ only regret with this exhibition is that she
could not feature more of the amazingly beautiful and
diverse birds and animals that Australians are blessed
to have as neighbours (but that will be another
exhibition).
Read the
Northern Leader Article...
|
