Jane Donaldson’s whimsical paintings are rooted in the land but inspired by inner emotions.
Story By Cathy Finch
Narrow roads lined with tall gum trees are shedding their textured skin on the way to Jane Donaldson’s country cottage, some
15 kilometres outside the small south-eastern Queensland township of Warwick. Overnight, drenching rain has saturated the parched and thirsty landscape, enticing bearded dragons out to laze on rocky creek beds under one-lane bridges. Pine trees glisten with water droplets clinging to their needles.
“I don’t paint specifically about the land, but my experience with life is very much connected to the land and the animals out here, so it has definitely enriched my work and many of the animals make it onto the canvas,” she says. “Even the life within the landscape – the linear quality of the trees, the play of light – it has all influenced the way I paint. The quiet and peace also helps. The silence and the space from people and distractions allow me to work. As long as there are people and relationships, I will have work.”
This Story is from Issue #98
Outback Magazine: Dec/Jan 2015
