Olivia Shimeld | Blackheath Black Cockatoos 7
In Situ
Blackheath Black Cockatoos 7 | 2024
Acrylic and oil on linen
40.5 x 50.5 cm
Framed in Tasmanian oak. Signed verso
$1,050
“My Cloud Sky With Black Cockatoo series of paintings have evolved from earlier Cloud Sky with bird paintings. In this most recent body of work, I’ve decided to focus in more on the majestic yellow tailed black cockatoos, making them the focal point in the otherwise ethereal sky. The background clouds are softly focused, almost appearing air brushed - although they are hand painted with layers of acrylic gesso glazed with oil paint.
The oil painted birds are sharply focused, contrasting with the misty amorphous sky. I’ve chosen this contrast as a way of highlighting the birds. I’ve painted the black cockatoos in monochrome violet and white, and not their characteristic black and yellow, this is to draw attention to the detail in the feathers and the light reflecting off the feathers.
I love hearing and watching the black cockatoos fly above my studio and will always stop whatever I’m doing to watch them pass over, or land in the trees nearby. These majestic creatures have a timeless aura to them and it always feels special to see and hear them.
The sunrises and sunsets here in Katoomba are also so magical and will often stop me in my tracks in an otherwise busy day to just observe and take in.
My Cloud Sky With Black Cockatoo series of works are in essence my artistic representation of these moments in time observing and interacting with the amazing Dharug and Gundangurra land I’m lucky to live and work on. “
Olivia Shimeld
Bio
With a background in electronic and temporal art (BVA, Sydney College Of The Arts 1997 - 1999), Katoomba based artist Olivia Shimeld has found a way to give her paintings a uniquely digital aesthetic. Her ethereal abstract landscapes, vast sunsets with birds, night skies and floral assemblages flash with vibrant neon colours layered atop one another, creating a depth of space reminiscent of a digital screen. Olivia uses high quality acrylic, oil and aerosol paints which she intuitively allows to drip and splatter onto her canvas. At once meditative and energetic, Olivia’s work asks for contemplation as it blurs material boundaries.
Olivia studied oil painting with Celia Gullett for six years (2011, 2013 – 2017). At the same time she also studied yoga, meditation and energetic healing. Her studies, living in the Blue Mountains, as well as being a mother to four school aged children inform and inspire her painting practise.
“I observe the colours in the sky and the way the light interacts with the clouds, and store those images in my memory bank,” she says. “I work from imagination, intuition and interaction.”
The results are high intensity, uplifting works, bustling with colour and texture. Layering acrylics and aerosol paint alongside oil sticks and oil paint, Olivia’s art is saturated with movement and life.
Each of Olivia’s works are simultaneously considered and spontaneous, producing bold and bright windows into her mind. Her practice of layering colour and texture creates wonderfully rich works, reflecting the great joy the act of painting brings to the artist.
Her exhibitions include:
From The Ground Up, with Morgan Shimeld, Day Gallery, Blackheath, April 2023
Mountains Group 7, group exhibition, Day Gallery, Blackheath, June 2022
Cloud Sky and Landscape, solo show, 107, Redfern, March 2022
The Other Art Fair, Sydney, December 2021
Abstract Landscape, solo show, 107, Redfern, May 2021
The Other Art Fair, Sydney, March 2021
Falling Leaves and Torn Signs (with printmaker Tim Kelly), The Shop Gallery, Glebe, February 2021
Falling Leaves (alongside Passage sculptures by Morgan Shimeld, Day Gallery, Blackheath October 2020
The Affordable Art Fair, Melbourne, September 2019
Olivia has also shown at First Draft Gallery in 2005, Degree Show, SCA in 1999 and Art Express at AGNSW in 1996.
