We recently invited Clare Purser a plein air painter based in Brisbane to spend a week wintering at Haneena Hill 10 kilometres west of Stanthorpe. We first met Clare when she received the major prize during the Milburn Art Awards, a biennial national landscape painting exhibition held at the Brisbane Institute of Art.
The Haneena Hill environment compresses many of the features the Granite Belt is famous for, labyrinthine rock structures, escarpments and stands of Eucalypt and Cypress forests with high views to the east and southwest.
Clare happened to arrive during a freezing southwesterly wind but managed to layer up and paint outside for part of her visit and for the rest shared one of our studios to process the atmosphere of rocks and forest. We quickly developed a rapport with Clare, good conversations about art at meal times and she willingly included herself in our routine of studio work into the night.
Clare travels widely for inspiration to many sites in Queensland and beyond, she accomplished many painting studies on her stay which she will likely develop into fully fledged painting to show at the Woolloongabba Art Gallery where she’s represented.
High Country Deep Time Drawing and Painting Workshops 