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| “Chicks” © Grace Paleg |
Bio: Every now and then I come upon an
artist whose work is so striking I wonder how I could possibly have missed it.
Grace Paleg is a case in point, and if I hadn’t picked up a copy of Pratique
des Arts when in France this summer I would still be unaware, and the poorer
for it.
Grace Paleg studied Graphic design at
Swinburne in Victoria and life drawing and portraiture at East Sydney Tech.
Studies followed with the late Lesley Sinclair and David Moore at Montsalvat
and Allan Martin at his studio in Eltham. Grace's earlier work consists of over
300 commissioned portraits and in the past years she has diversified in subject
matter to Life Drawing, Landscape and Still Life. With a young family Grace
found it more and more difficult to juggle the busy lifestyle with the
restrained requirements that go along with working in oil. When a friend and
fellow artist introduced her to the medium in 1987 it solved that particular
problem and she began exhibiting (and winning awards) in 1990; and she joined
the Victorian Pastel Society in 1993. Grace is a member of
the Australian Pastel Society, and of the Australian Guild of Realists
Artists; and member and past President of the South Coast Pastel Society.
In conjunction with these activities she has been an invitation judge at Art
Shows and has been giving demonstrations and workshops for Art Societies
throughout Victoria, N.S.W. and A.C.T.
After a move to the south coast of N.S.W.
in 1994 with her family, Grace commenced work as a tutor with the Eurobodalla
Adult Education Centre teaching portraiture. The Grace Paleg Fine Art Studio
Gallery was opened in November 1996 and it is from there that Grace continues
to work and teach. Her life and work was featured in Pratique des Arts Hors-Série
Pastel in 2012.
Medium: Pastel.
Subjects: Life Drawing, Landscape, Still
Life
Style: Representational. But this artist
possibly wields her pastels in the most luminous manner that I have ever
encountered. To see her rendition of nacre and mother of pearl in a nautilus
shell is quite extraordinary. Her favourite support is Canson Mi-Teintes in the
lavender shade; she supports the Australian pastels from Art Spectrum, but
also Schminke. She achieves her unique effects by liberal use of her fingers,
hands, fist and even arms to super-pose (never “rub”) layers of pastel in a fashion
that she describes as “modifying the darks”.
Navigation: Menu remains available at side
of page.
Gallery: Single page of thumbnails.
Image View: Thumbnails enlarge on a new
page, and may be downloaded, but they all have a copyright watermark. There is
no indication of the dimension of the original painting but they may be as
large as 100 x 60 cm. according to the Pratique des Arts feature. (If you can at all find this issue, buy it tout-de-suite!) Grace's painting, Chicks, won the 2012 Terry Collins award for the Australian Guild of Realist Artists.
Demo/Blog: No
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