Clare Brodie toggles between figurative and semi abstract works of art and is currently showing her first solo exhibition Pathways at Saint Cloche Gallery in Paddington, Sydney.  She began her artistic career as an interior designer in a commercial architectural design firm where she was successful for 20 years creating aesthetics for spaces within foyers, hospitals and other non-residential structures.  Clare enjoyed working with the architects.  In Clare’s art work, placement and scale are important. As in design where the junction of different materials was thought out details, Clare considers the shape and colour junctions in her paintings. Her ‘Pathway’ and ‘Canopy’ series of works are designed to sit together, similar to fabric story. Clare began painting small canopies and then began to enlarge those; she likes to experiment with scale which again originates from her experience with architectural principles.

Clare explains that there is always a story with her art work and Pathways is not only a metaphorical expression of Clare’s life, it literally is her life in the sense that the painted pathways through nature which are depicted, are in fact the rural environment, trees and bush which Claire traverses each day and where she avidly observes all that nature presents on each walk.

Clare works with great structure and diligence.  Each day she begins work in her purpose built studio at home, a square structure of white space, with parred back aesthetics, devoid of wall hangings or other distractions which allow Claire to focus entirely on the painting in progress.   The studios annex provides just enough space for a collection to be stored as each new painting commences and finished completely before the next is begun.  From her studio Clare watches her son go through the garden gate to school over the fence - the sound of his school bell then heralds the start of a solid day’s painting in which Clare fully immerses herself in the process she has undertaken. This concentration comes to an end in coincidence with the final bell, a charming and practical structure in which both emerge with a sense of achievement!

Whilst listening to radio Clare begins, there will be plenty of drawing, planning and direction is not lacking, Clare has clear ideas about what she will do, Clare will sometimes reference the completed painting stored near her to ensure a consistency to the body of work.

Clare uses plastic polymer to paint and favours this matt paint because it absorbs the light and allows saturated colour, (conversely light would bounce off a gloss finish and reduce the saturation of her colours, for this reason Clare rarely chooses to varnish her completed works.) The colours used are reflective of Clare’s emotional state at that time and Clare asserts that, ‘Mother Nature in Australia need not necessarily be clad in army green’ but rather in the colours which inspire Clare on her walks which are sometimes more delicate and quite different to the stereotypical palette used for traditional Australian landscapes.

Clare begins with a base colour, a signature blue sky and will draw first, then paints the first layer and consequently shifts the colours around until they work together.  The painting in its development could be described as untidy but the final piece emerges as a precise and carefully balanced composition, not only within itself, a diptych or triptych, but as part of the whole collection.

Considering Clare is experienced in producing creative works which are for sale, through her career in interior design and now as an artist, she spoke about her attitude to relinquishing her works to buyers.  Her view is both practical and emotional.  Clare creates her paintings intended to be shown as a collection, every painting is intentionally composite of the whole.  Clare personally wants to experience the ‘collection’ and accepts that there is a relatively short period of time that the collection remains together before she ‘let’s go’ as each work is sold.   Clare doesn’t have the space to store it, maintains its value by avoiding gifting the works and so encourages the sale process because she believes not only that that buying Australian art directly supports the creative process, it also allows the artist to feel valued for the skill they possess and offer. 

In moving on a collection, Clare is then ready to start the next and explains that having an art practice and  organising and producing a body of work for exhibitions forces one to be disciplined and to paint, consequently, practice enables the artists language to become increasingly honed – artistry is therefore very much a process, in continuum.

With thanks to Clare for such an insightful discussion.

Find out more about Claire visit http://clarebrodie.com