David Invited a Few Friends Over (after lockdown ended), Vote Now

Artist: Marlies Oakley
Artist Location: BUNDABERG
Medium: 3D Hancut Collage, 2020
Dimensions: 82 x 4 x 62 cm
Artist Statement:
How we dream of flying to Europe to party with our overseas friends and families, but we know the reality. Parties and celebrations have been planned, rearranged and cancelled, all at short notice. Social responsibility is the mantra of the new normal, as we try to do the right thing, with its confusing and sometimes conflicting messages.
It started as a quite get together as David invited a few of his fellow artistic friends over (after lockdown had ended of course), but things got a bit out of hand when JD was invited, which was hardly a big surprise.
You can see for yourself where it ended up, but I guess these things can happen to those who have remained still and silent for a few hundred years.
I just hope we’re free again soon and David invites us to his next “get together”.

Photographer: Marlies Oakley

Summer Clover, Vote Now

Artist: CAITLIN BRODERICK
Artist Location: Ironpot
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 61 x 3.5 x 61 cm
Artist Statement:
Where I live, there are many black cockatoos that fly around. They are a beautiful, graceful bird, with a distinct call that can be heard echoing in the coastal breeze. They glide effortlessly in the salty ocean air, calling to each other. They bring an energy that tends to be celebratory, as if they are celebrating their home and their free spirit. I think they perfectly represent our coastal home and the happiness and contentment felt near the beach. I brought in vibrant pops of pinks and blues to bring forth their wild and celebratory energy. Her name reflects her energy and the empowerment she brings. Summer Clover.

Photographer: CAITLIN BRODERICK

Self-Portrait, Vote Now

Artist: Elizabeth Graetz
Artist Location: Dalby
Medium: Textile, 2020
Dimensions: 88 x 1 x 64 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebrating the colour of life- the effervescent highs and the dispiriting lows make me who I am today. Over the past few years, I have battled demons no-one else can see and still hold my head high, colouring my perspective on life. I live in a small town of limited views and understanding and look to reflect a sense that today is all we have- tomorrow is never a promise. So live in the here and now, celebrate what we have and reflect light and wonder on the world around us!

Photographer: Elizabeth Graetz

Be Alright, Vote Now

Artist: Benitta Harding
Artist Location: Goodna
Medium: Pastel on Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 0 x 30 cm
Artist Statement:
“Be Alright” captures getting lost in the moment without any thoughts to either the past or future. It’s being in that beautiful headspace that makes you feel like everything will be alright.
As an artist I work in isolation so for me to Paint the Town is responding to the experience of isolation and how we express our creativity during these time in our own way… It getting lost in the moment while creating – that moment which is free from judgment, criticism or fear of what others might think.

Photographer: Benitta Harding

This Won’t Hurt A Bit, Vote Now

Artist: Grant Quinn
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Photography, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 1 x 70 cm
Artist Statement:
Tattooing, the art of painting our town’s people, yesterday today and tomorrow. The history of tattooing goes back for thousands of years, and the reasons for getting tattooed are many. With the markings being personal, they can be plain, or elaborate, and they serve as amulets, healing and status symbols, dedications of love, signs of religion, adornments and even forms of punishments. The fascination of acquiring a tattoo may fall into four main groups, namely healing, affiliation, art and fashion. For many, tattoos are art, similar to a piece of jewellery for others to admire. People allow themselves to get tattooed simply because it’s beautiful. Previously, tattooing at galleries was mainly considered performance art in the form of live tattooing, but recently, tattoos, like graffiti, have gone from cult to art status and have been adopted by the art industry, especially in areas where art and fashion meet.

Photographer: Grant Quinn

White Rock Blue Sky, Vote Now

Artist: Cynthia Copley
Artist Location: East Ipswich
Medium: Oil, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 1.5 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
I explored the concept of ‘Paint the Town’ through my celebration of White Rock; a magnificent landmark of cultural significance located at the Spring Mountain Conservation Park in Ipswich. The short walk to this rock, for me, musters feelings of excitement and anticipation, enlivened by the surrounding scrub, the sounds of bustling birds, scurrying lizards and the watchful gaze of kangaroos. Ascending slowly, climbing stair after stair, I finally stand in the presence of this enormous rock that has stood for eons of time. A feeling of amazement and history washes over me. It’s a humbling experience; I realise I am here for just a short time. I celebrate my feet on the land. I run my hand over the warm sandstone. I am here.

Photographer: Cynthia Copley

Girl Paints Town, Vote Now

Artist: Milynda Rogers
Artist Location: Barcaldine
Medium: Recycled steel and plastic, 2021
Dimensions: 25 x 25 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
Girl Paints Town was created in response to the theme “Paint the Town” after I had been experimenting with human anatomy in steel. I was able to incorporate the theme in my sculpture of the a female form for two reasons. Firstly I knew that I had red street sweeper brushes that I could recycle perfectly as oversized paint brushes and secondly I had the whole picture vision of the finished sculpture of a lunging women about to express her feelings through painting. Using recycled bolts, wire, steel rod, sockets and street brushes and welding them together then grinding heating and painting to accomplish the finished artwork. I am very happy with my attempt to convey emotional feeling within cold, hard steel.

Photographer: Aaron Skinn

You Beauty!, Vote Now

Artist: Gail Meyer
Artist Location: FRENCHVILLE
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 1 x 40 cm
Artist Statement:
You Beauty !
Hoo roo to the big dry. Send her down Hughie! Farmers, graziers, gemstone fossickers and country folk alike toss away their laid back manner and feel uplifted and celebrate the arrival of the rain with a huge shindig or maybe a private celebration.
Rock up, raise a glass, have a cold one.
Here is the rain, the refreshment to the land; seeds sprouting, crops growing, wild flowers exploding, and gem stones gleaming on the wet ground. The big wet.
Party time, true gold, good times – time to paint the town!
Woop it up, acknowlegde and honour the good times.

Photographer: Gail Meyer

Grasses of Diamantina, Vote Now

Artist: Karen Stephens
Artist Location: Winton
Medium: Acrylic on polyester, 2021
Dimensions: 19.5 x 1 x 80 cm
Artist Statement:
I live in Channel Country and ‘Grasses of Diamantina’ was painted on site at Diamantina National Park. The ‘Diamantina River’ that can be up to fifty kilometres wide when waters flow inward is surrounded with unique grasses and textures of soil. The river was named for the late Lady ‘Diamantina’ Bowen, the wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland. Because of the areas abundance from life giving water, this region was also a thriving trade route for many First Nations people living in Channel Country.
‘Painting the Town’ conjures up the idea of noisy celebration. Waiting for water, the Diamantina landscape is so quiet it becomes unquiet. I hear myself breathing in and out and find joy spectating and painting little pathways of grasses that gently come to a close. ‘Grasses of Diamantina’ is a window for quiet contemplation and a celebration of remote Queensland landscapes.

Photographer: Mick Richards

Celebration of colour, Vote Now

Artist: Jeanie MacNamara
Artist Location: Benaraby
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 3.2999999999999998 x 80 cm
Artist Statement:
Border closures, lock-downs and social distancing were terms found in science fiction novels until COVID hit. My joy until then was to go out into this beautiful world that we share and paint it in all its glory, especially when I was able to do so with my friend Gayle – another passionate artist, who showed me the joy of painting landscapes. To my delight, in between lockdowns, my friend and I stole an afternoon at Newstead House when the Poincianna trees were in riotous flower. While this painting most certainly celebrates the vivid colours of the river and the trees, what it celebrates more is the time I managed to spend with Gayle. When artists come together to paint the wonders of this glorious land, either in silent contemplation or joyous laughter, the world is a better place.

Photographer: Jeanie MacNamara

Lets have music and dance, Vote Now

Artist: Tarja Ahokas
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 3.5 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
I grew up with dancing being part of celebrations whether it was birthdays, weddings, New Year Eve or Midsummer Eve…
Always music and dancing…..
Lets celebrate Life…lets paint the town by having music and dancing…..

Photographer: Tarja Ahokas

The Prose, Vote Now

Artist: Luisa Manea
Artist Location: Mount Sheridan
Medium: Clay/Pottery, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 15 x 18 cm
Artist Statement:
The Prose is my method of turning a sculpture into a painting using paint on a 3D form. Where the person is the party and script dances all over the form, starting to document a life as they progress through ageing. We are all born as a blank canvas, no markings or history, silky smooth, sweet smelling skin made of soft rolls to cuddle, with age we start to unfurled and our skin starts to tell a story of life we lead. From the injuries, scars, piercing, and the tattoos we can’t live with out, that blank canvas starts to become our original painting. When we walk past someone we don’t know, we see a body but we don’t see the life they have live, here in my sculpture I bring the two together. “The Prose” the party of life.

Photographer: Luisa Manea

Portrait Of An Artist, Vote Now

Artist: Grant Quinn
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Photography, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 1 x 70 cm
Artist Statement:
As a photographer, I am inspired by the power that photographs hold. I take pleasure in knowing my images invite you to be immersed in what I felt at a particular moment in time. Photography being the true form of social documentation is crucial in providing viewers with meaning of the cultures in which we live, and without this social documentation, we are left with only the spoken and written word, and these two forms of communication alone can not provide us with the full knowledge of the society in which we exist. By capturing Ipswich based artist Jil Nugent, in serene contemplation of what’s next, visualising her passion for colour, and celebrating her love of art through her paintings of local historical buildings and the Urban Landscape, including St Mary’s church and the Ipswich Railway Workshops, allows me share with the viewer a glimpse of her journey. Jil’s artistic accolades include work being commissioned and exhibited throughout Australia and evokes her spirit for celebration of all things iconic. Now residing in Regional SE QLD, Jil is still producing art and painting the town she so proudly now calls home.

Photographer: Grant Quinn

PAINT IT YOURS, Vote Now

Artist: Jodi Bowen
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: FREE-STANDING CERAMIC- hand built and painted with 18 carat gold detail. Works are finished with either a gloss or matte finish, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 20 x 20 cm
Artist Statement:
Everyone likes to celebrate differently. Whether it’s partying, picnicking or a pot of tea- celebration is a personal experience. PAINT IT YOURS invites the viewer to make their own experience. You mix and match from the following ‘pots of colour’ to design your own celebration.

‘Paint it red colour pot’ : champagne, a new party dress, heels, handbag, some long lashes, sparkly jewellery and a red lippy (followed by a taxi home and a few Panadol before bed)
‘Paint it yellow colour pot’ : a day at the beach, a picnic, a sun-bath, a ball game and a spot of surfing
‘Paint it blue colour pot : ’ a cosy night in, a good read, a pot of tea and a comfortable chair or bed.
Select your options from the 20 available and add to the ‘Paint it Yours’ pot to create your ultimate personal celebratory experience.
THIS WORK IS MADE UP OF 4 ‘POTS’ AND 20 OPTIONS. ALL PIECES ARE HAND BUILT AND PAINTED CERAMICS- SOME WITH 18 CARAT DETAIL. The second photo is an example of the options available.

Photographer: Jodi Bowen

Reflections of Anticipation, Vote Now

Artist: Stacey Bennett
Artist Location: Jimboomba
Medium: Pastels, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 0.01 x 89 cm
Artist Statement:
When I think about celebration it encompasses a night out on the town. The suspense of the lead-up as excitement fills the air. Envisaging what awaits. Getting dolled up and feeling on top of the world.
“Paint the Town” was taken symbolically and literally. The focal point of this piece showcases a gigantic woman towering upon her city. The city is represented in grey tones to highlight how they are typically seen as concrete jungles, yet she is vivid and bold in colour. Speckles of this colour represent how the city is reflective of self and she is reflected in the city. In her anticipation, she is literally on top of her world, applying her war paint of the night while painting the town.
She has the light in her eye and the street at her feet. She looks to the now and the wonder of what comes next.

Photographer: Stacey Bennett

Jaded Landscape 2, Vote Now

Artist: Robert Natoli
Artist Location: Kureelpa
Medium: Oil on Board, 2020
Dimensions: 35 x 10 x 118 cm
Artist Statement:
Places, as much as people; reflect the activity, care and interactions in which they exist. Everything is interconnected and reliant on the other for survival.
Our landscapes often bear the brunt of human activity. It’s our choice if that activity harms or enhances the sacred grounds on which we walk.

Photographer: Robert Natoli

Celebration of the bridge, Vote Now

Artist: Tarja Ahokas
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 45.200000000000003 x 3.7000000000000002 x 45.700000000000003 cm
Artist Statement:
Artwork is often projected onto bridges for various celebrations.
My new bridge, built over a ditch, leading to my studio is not as grand as the Brisbane Story Bridge but it also has its own story and I wanted to “paint the town” by celebrating my bridge with my own colours and imagery.

Photographer: Tarja Ahokas

A Reason to Celebrate, Vote Now

Artist: Pamela Finlay
Artist Location: Bowen
Medium: Mixed Media on Watercolour Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 56 x 2 x 76 cm
Artist Statement:
Art is a process of exploration. Today I might see something fresh and new in the landscape that I didn’t see yesterday. Every day is a reason to celebrate the diversity of what I see. Today might be windy, tomorrow may be calm and these elements can affect the natural world immensely. Leaves can be blown off trees and tomorrow sees a new cycle of growth emerging. The Scrub Almond Tree comes to mind when I think of this, the colour, size and shape of the different leaves on the same tree. The Red Tailed Cockatoos enjoy devouring fruit from this tree and set about leaving litter from their munchings on the local beachfront avenue of trees. To see them flying across the sky is a sight to behold. The ground throughout Bowen is a carpet of red leaves after their onslaught and afterwards fresh new growth of bright green leaves appear.

Photographer: Pamela Finlay

Sedimentary, Vote Now

View Digital Artwork Artist: Jason Nelson
Artist Location: Witheren
Medium: Interactive Digital Artwork, 2021
Dimensions: 80 x 10 x 120 cm
Artist Statement:
After bushfires swept through the Illinbah Valley, new layers of geology and geometry were revealed. Layers of blue-tinted rock, red volcanic soil, burned grass trees, green shooting eucalyptus, yellowed grass lining the mountain slopes. The Coomera river snaking across the landscape. And while the fires themselves were devastating to many, including those closest to us, there is a beauty in the regeneration of nature, a celebration of creatures and wildlife returning, layering the valley with newly born narratives. Sedimentary is an interactive digital artwork replicating our region’s post-bushfire landscapes. This artwork uses generative coding, and forever changing sediments of color and geometry, surfaces and lines to create a journey through our valley. To us, the notion of a “town” isn’t built from streets and houses. Instead our town is born from the soil and geology, the trees and grasses and rivers. It’s a many layered place, painted by erosion and sediment, fire and growth. The artwork is here: http://dpoetry.com/sedimentary/ Use your mouse to move and adjust and rethink the generative valley.

Photographer: Jason Nelson

Pink Sky Delight, Vote Now

Artist: Jassy watson
Artist Location: Innes Park
Medium: Ink, Acrylic & Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 95 x 4 x 95 cm
Artist Statement:
This painting created with inks, acrylics and a splash of oils is inspired by one of the many vantage points of the only hill in Bundaberg – ‘The Hummock’, otherwise known as ‘Burning Mountain’ by the Tarilbelung people – it was also once an active volcano. The hill is now dotted with houses and communication towers. One of the most stunning views is the hot pink sky as the sun sets behind the Hummock, the old of the landscape and the new of technology and modern life set against each other. This location is such an iconic spot in our regional town of Bundaberg and is steeped in ancient history. I felt to paint the town was to paint the only vantage point that offers a 360 degree in FULL colour – as iridiscent as the landscape itself. Merv Moriarty taught me that the ‘Landscape was our greatest teacher on colour’, I took this to the canvas.

Photographer: Jassy watson

A Gentle Sway, Vote Now

Artist: Nicole Jakins
Artist Location: Glenwood
Medium: Stoneware clay, brass, eucalypt pigment, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 21 x 93 cm
Artist Statement:
The winter light filters through the wattle as they sway gently in the breeze. Cradled in between soft mountain peaks, their blooms slowly turn into a burnt golden hue as the sun lowers in the sky. I breath in the rich, heady scents of the bush, listening to the slow-flowing trickle of tannin stained water as it meanders around me.
This is how I celebrate life – by switching off and quietly reflecting on the incredible diversity of the surrounding environment, and observing the flow of things. A simple, solitary act that fills my cup so profoundly that I am completely restored, feeling blessed that I have been able to share this celebratory moment with nature itself.

Photographer: Nicole Jakins

Shoe Show, Vote Now

Artist: Therese Foley
Artist Location: Frenchville
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 30.5 x 3.5 x 40.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Paint the town says celebration to me so if it’s time to celebrate, for me that means grab a great pair of shoes and matching outfit and ready myself for a fantastic time out! These heels and being dressed up says nothing but party! Spending most of my life in the small town of Blackwater, that could mean a day followed by night at the races, a night out with my besties or a special night out with my man. I love shoes and browsing the shop windows at Camden in London inspired me to create my own shop window of interesting shoes!

Photographer: Therese Foley

Gunna Need A Bigger Brush, Vote Now

Artist: Grant Quinn
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Photography, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 1 x 70 cm
Artist Statement:
When you respect and preserve a towns history, you are preserving and respecting it’s personality, the very thing that gives it character, and brings new residents and new life. When most people think of preserving history, they envision painting the town, restoring old buildings and historical sites, and beautifying our urban landscape. But preserving the history of our town is so much more. Preserving our history has many benefits, from improving economy to becoming more environmentally conscious. Having pride and celebrating where we come from, improves connection to community, to neighbours, and a strong community makes for a strong town. Historic preservation is proven to provide jobs and increase tourism. Our history is the heart and soul of our town, and it is vital to our future success that we work to protect it and with preservation comes rejuvenation. In our beautiful town, our history has been our heartbeat, and we need to continue to work tirelessly to respect our town’s history and continue to work to embrace it.

Photographer: Grant Quinn

When hippies choose the colour scheme, Vote Now

Artist: Caralyn Wiles
Artist Location: Welcome Creek
Medium: Acrylic on canvas board, 2021
Dimensions: 25 x 0.5 x 51 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebrating to me revolves around colour. We dress up in colour and adorn ourselves with colourful pieces. This piece takes the viewer to the extreme of celbrating by painting the town vibrant colours

Photographer: Caralyn Wiles

A Woman’s Work Is Never Done, Vote Now

Artist: Laurie McLeod
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Digital created image on Paper or screen, 2021
Dimensions: 39 x 2 x 66 cm
Artist Statement:
Pick yourself up, put yourself together and start over again. In a dystopian world, many feel discarded. No longer competent. Their former beliefs are no longer useful. Only hope reignites former talents in new ways and the struggle to survive begins again. The recovery road can be barren, but small joys bring delight. As the spiritual path and friends provide sustenance a true reason to celebrate a better triumphant life presents itself.

Photographer: Laurie McLeod

Birthday celebration of 2021, Vote Now

Artist: Tarja Ahokas
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 30.5 x 3.7000000000000002 x 25 cm
Artist Statement:
I celebrate my Birthday each year by producing an Artwork.
I like to be inspired by something I see or experience that day usually by going on a day trip somewhere.
This year due to the lockdown I went to the far corner or our 8000m2 property and pulled out lot of weeds in the pouring rain. I could have danced in the rain but the ground was too muddy and soft, so I let the weeds dance on my canvas instead.
This was the way I “painted the town”…celebrating those weeds that inspired me.

Photographer: Tarja Ahokas

medicinae crescente de terra I (medicine growing from our earth I), Vote Now

Artist: Cara-Ann Simpson
Artist Location: Haden
Medium: ink infused metal, 2021
Dimensions: 76.200000000000003 x 0.5 x 76.200000000000003 cm
Artist Statement:
medicinae crescente de terra I’ celebrates returning to my heart’s home: the joy, fulfilment and healing nature of place. Here I am grounded, deeply connected to the earth and sky.
The specimen is gumbi gumbi (Pittosporum angustifolium) from my family’s farm located on the lands of the Jarowair people of the Wakka Wakka nation. Gumbi gumbi is a beautiful weeping tree – lyrical, medicinal and a peacock within the bush.
In the title, seen within the image as a spectrograph (soundwave), I remind myself that all medicine comes from our earth in some form or another. This work is part of “Furari Flores” (Stealing Flowers) is a vanitas series of one-on-one plant interviews. The titles are spoken in Latin and translated into spectrographs. There is an irony of speaking a dead language to plucked flowers/fruits, now also dying, and leaving only the visual representation, the movement of sound left behind.

Photographer: Cara-Ann Simpson

Gathered Thoughts, Precious Memories, Vote Now

Artist: Pamela Finlay
Artist Location: BOWEN
Medium: Mixed media and Stitch on Textile and Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 8 x 23 cm
Artist Statement:
The Red Tailed Black Cockatoos are renowned to arrive preceding the rain and they’re a wonderful sight to see, they’re so hyper and exuberant when you hear them screeching. They also arrive in town to eat the fruit of the Terminalia Tree, also known as the Scrub Almond. They literally paint the town red with their red tails flying across the sky. The Terminalia is a carpet of red too in August when it drops its gigantic red leaves which are the source of reference for this collection of Artist Books that I have created. The different colours of the leaves intrigue me as does the variety in the colours and patterns of the feathers of the Cockatoo. It’s a special part of nature we get to experience and it makes my heart sing.

Photographer: Pamela Finlay

Reflecting on Family, Vote Now

Artist: Colleen Helmore
Artist Location: Burnett Heads
Medium: Watercolour, 2021
Dimensions: 54 x 0 x 34 cm
Artist Statement:
Covid has interrupted many family gatherings and when your only granddaughter who lives in Perth comes to visit for the first time in nearly two years the joy is indescribable. My ‘Paint the Town’ moment comes with a quiet reflection on the joy of having nurtured a family who want to visit us and share the joy of their family. Every single moment with them is a celebration and when they leave and go back to their own lives, I can quietly glance at this painting and smile at the memories.

Photographer: Colleen Helmore

Eucalpytian Glad Rags, Vote Now

Artist: Anne Mossman
Artist Location: Elanora
Medium: Coloured Porcelain, 2021
Dimensions: 26 x 22 x 22 cm
Artist Statement:
Mossman’s inspiration is drawn from the disparate colours on some of the eucalypt tree trunks that surround her hinterland environment. In the summer the eucalyptus bark peels off in sheaths to reveal nude like patches of new ‘skin’ which is invariably smooth and lighter coloured than other parts of the bark. The contrast in colours and tones is wondrous and provides an ever changing visual feast. This vessel purposely exaggerates the colour palette as a celebration of Australia’s iconic trees.

Photographer: Anne Mossman

No. 79 (The hummingbird cake), Vote Now

Artist: Majeeda Cox
Artist Location: Cooroy
Medium: Acrylic on stretched canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 40.600000000000001 x 4 x 50.799999999999997 cm
Artist Statement:
I had a huge party for my last birthday and I have great memories of it. Most years I like to celebrate on a smaller scale, though – calm, simple and manageable. A usual birthday involves me and a few loved ones sharing a cake. My favourite cakes are Hummingbird and red velvet, and I like to make them myself.

Photographer: Majeeda Cox

Number Cakes, Vote Now

Artist: Emma Thorp
Artist Location: Dundowran Beach
Medium: Coloured Pencil over Acrylic on Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 69 x 0.29999999999999999 x 47 cm
Artist Statement:
I love to make cards and cakes for my children on their birthdays. Nothing too tricky, I am no great baker. The kids tell me what colour and flavour they would like and are often involved in the decoration. This image shows an assortment of the cakes I have made for my children over the years. Because my son was born very prematurely, I made him a zero cake on the day he should have been born and went on from there. Some were for my son, some were for my daughter. The last ones were almost identical once they realised that chocolate cake is the best type of cake. They don’t much care for the number cakes anymore, but I miss them. It is so much easier to identify how old they were in old birthday photos!

Photographer: Emma Thorp

Poona Lake Ghosts, Vote Now

Artist: Nicole Harper
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 91 x 4 x 120 cm
Artist Statement:
Poona Lake is unique perched lake in Butchulla country near Rainbow Beach. Sketching in situ, absorbing the landscape and connecting to the place, as a plein air artist, this gathering of information and feeling is the basis for undertaking this larger work in oil paint in the studio. The ghosts, or remanets, of much and many are present in this work. I acknowledge the Traditional Owners, the Butchulla, their elders past, present and future and the value this place holds for them, gathering. I remember a group of women seeking connection, with place and each other, evoking a spirit of festivity. I reflect on times I have sought solace here, found gratitude, and depart with a feeling of celebration that nature provides in being part of it, even if just for a short time. I dwell upon the future, and the achievements that will be celebrated by the next generations.

Photographer: Nicole Harper

A Nature in the Self., Vote Now

Artist: Julia Skye Higgs
Artist Location: Bowen
Medium: Canvas Print, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 5 x 100 cm
Artist Statement:
This work is a series of puppets and body extensions that evoke the spirit of celebration through colour and self-expression as sculptural forms on the body. 9 people stand in one frame, each wearing a different body piece. Each of these are different from the other and express aspects of a bush turkey, a pet dog, and human elements in both recognisable and abstracted ways through their disproportions, amalgamation of human and animal and use of colour. They are bright and bold and combine papier-mache, wire, recycling, acrylic paint, and second-hand fabrics to create a series that celebrates and evokes play, the body, and self-expression by recreating and altering familiar forms into vibrant wearable art.

Photographer: Brooke Miles

River Town, Vote Now

Artist: Kylie Stevens
Artist Location: Pine Mountain
Medium: Bremer River water, copper leaf, charcoal, earth and acrylic paint on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 92 x 3.5 x 92 cm
Artist Statement:
River Town is a celebration of my hometown and the river it is built around. Creating artworks is how I celebrate, in River Town I have I have painted the town, by incorporating the major streets and bridges into the work, and by celebrating my town in paint.
River water thins my paint, allowing it to pool and travel across the canvas. With the addition of hand ground ochres and charcoal the canvas is marked; then, I map the river in copper leaf. Using the natural elements of river water and earth, the work contains the essence of the place it represents.
I am an Ipswich-based artist working with and within the environment. It is my aim to showcase the beauty and alchemy of nature, inspiring in the viewer a deeper respect for and desire to protect our precious natural spaces.

Photographer: Kylie Stevens

Scared, Vote Now

Artist: Donna Glass
Artist Location: Bunya Mountains
Medium: Digital Print In Frame, 2020
Dimensions: 100 x 25 x 100 cm
Artist Statement:
Scared Of What You Don’t Show Me.
Our Universe is Made Up Of 25 percent Dark Matter 70 percent Dark Energy And The Rest Is Normal Matter And A small
Percentage If this is Us.
We Are So Small Yet So Important To The Stream Of Things.

Photographer: Donna Glass

Tree Poem – II, Vote Now

Artist: Katie Harris-MacLeod
Artist Location: Diddillibah
Medium: Bloodwood Tree Sap on 300gsm Watercolour Paper., 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 0 x 56 cm
Artist Statement:
Tree Poem – II is one of a series of works from an on-going project entitled, Sap Works.
Sap Works is an intimate study of the interwoven connectivities between bodies of trees and human beings, specifically the female body.
This work intricately studies Bloodwood trees and the sap that they excrete by mapping
stressed Bloodwood trees across the Sunshine Coast region and stress within my own body.
These ‘stress exchanges’ become a series of intimate durational and ritualistic performances, derived from my ancestral lineage to Celtic/ Gaelic culture, landscape and language. Enigmatic sap pigment drawings are captured on
tra handmade paper, a poetic exchange between body and tree.
Ogham, is the ancient Celtic language of the trees, and it is this ancestral knowledge that has been the conduit connecting me to this landscape.
Sap Worksis a process of re-connecting and understanding. Cross cultural narratives give meaning to my transitory belonging.

Photographer: Katie Harris-MacLeod

Pathways of joy, Vote Now

Artist: Anitha Menon
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 1 x 30 cm
Artist Statement:
This year the art of celebrating has come with quiet gratitude, reflection and fleeting memories of loved ones stuck in a different time zone. Sitting in my cosy home I adore the precious ring on my fingers and feel the safety of the place I’m living in. Waiting for more colours to fill my senses, I celebrate the joy of life in the mundane coziness of my house.
Sometimes inanimate objects speak through their silence. They can be symbols of a cultural past or moments of a time or sometimes, a realisation for me that time has stood still without progress. My identity as a homemaker, my house and the objects associated with it have been a major influence in my art so far. I am drawn towards symbolism and concepts and find textures fascinating to paint.

Photographer: Anitha Menon

At the Oak, Vote Now

Artist: Ela Bozek
Artist Location: Healy
Medium: Acrylics on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 77 x 4 x 102 cm
Artist Statement:
The first beats of live music starts the evening at the Oak. Undeniably, there would be no celebration without it. Everyone in the room waited the whole week to come here to the dancefloor. Familiar and unfamiliar faces smile to each other. It always helps to look at that joy.
Visiting the Oak made me feel like me, back home.

Photographer: Ela Bozek

Festival Fever, Vote Now

Artist: Kym Tabulo
Artist Location: MOOLOOLAH VALLEY
Medium: Digital, 2021
Dimensions: 64 x 1 x 46 cm
Artist Statement:
Woodforida is a party town for the week-long festival, that once was and will be again. This artwork captures the energy of the celebration, which climaxes with a New Year’s Eve party. My digital collage combines photographs I took at the festival with digital drawing. I use an XP-Pen drawing tablet, Photoshop, and filters to blend several layers into a final image. The process enables me to generate art that reflects the excitement of the event in all its glorious colours, especially red.

Photographer: Kym Tabulo

Come Share my Moon with Me, Vote Now

Artist: Lindsay-Jane Conroy
Artist Location: Maroochydore
Medium: Acrylic and pen, 2020
Dimensions: 46 x 2.5 x 61 cm
Artist Statement:
Statement by Lindsay-Jane Conroy
Title: Come Share my Moon with Me
“Come Share my Moon with Me” is a fun quirky look at the little bird called the “Egret” which are often seen following cattle around the paddocks. The work is full of playful things such as houses nestled in a large tree and a magical moon peeking through in which the Egret ask his loved ones to come share his moon. It is just a imaginary take the essence of painting the town can be the Joy of simple things that can give an explosion of happiness when sharing something special with others.
My inspiration of art comes from both farm and family coastal lifestyle which have given me a broad gathering of inspiration. With the last drought of 7 years on our farm followed by the hit, to the family Sunshine coast business, like so many with the arrival of Covid19. It has been important to keep a light hearted attitude to my work. As such I have taken a non-tradition approach to my work being drawn to fantasy with a touch of quirk hoping to leave the viewer with a light-hearted feeling.

Photographer: Lindsay-Jane Conroy

Bushwalk, Vote Now

Artist: Jasna Spiranovic
Artist Location: Hollywell
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 93 x 4 x 77 cm
Artist Statement:
I celebrate the little things in life by going for walks in nature.
This painting depicts a walk I did one morning where I felt I was walking in clouds one moment and then the forest the next moments. These Spaces of nature not only calm my mind but make me feel appreciate nature .

Photographer: Jasna Spiranovic

Talchum (The Mask Dance), Vote Now

Artist: Jooyun Lim
Artist Location: broadwater
Medium: clay, 2020
Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 15 cm
Artist Statement:
This work uses slip casting to create plates and bowls using moulds. I chose the Korean traditional dance called Tal-chum (mask dance) as a pattern. There are many different types and colors of Tal (mask) to represent different themes, also different costumes and dance moves. There are tears, laughter, happiness, sadness, jokes, love, anger, wisdom and life in the performance. When my ancestors hoping and celebrating for something or console people, they gathered together in the ceremony and danced. I used traditional rhythmical humming in the Korean language to maximize the dance movement. I also wanted to give texture by carving patterns and then inlaying colour on the surface and I wished to show the five traditional colours of Korean patterns: red, yellow, blue, black and white.
This remote peaceful town is quite different to where I was born and raised .
This town has unique environment which you get to meet people from all over the world for traveling and farm work.
I was hoping to share my culture in this diverse town through my work .

Photographer: Jooyun Lim

I Left My Heart On The Island, Vote Now

Artist: Jay Feather
Artist Location: Qunaba
Medium: Oil and acrylic on cotton linen blend canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 90 x 3 x 70 cm
Artist Statement:
This piece is very special to me, it was created when I was pregnant with my second child. I find it joyful and it reminds me of my son. After having a failed pregnancy, I was able to reflect on the negative space I had come from and into a happy positive space being pregnant. My marks are strong and confident in this piece through the use of thick oil paint and use of a pallet knife. Forever now I will be reminded of the happy island of hope that emerge from the tumultuous sea of despair, of which, I know I will never return.

Photographer: Jay Feather

A Little Bird Told Me, Vote Now

Artist: Saren Dobkins
Artist Location: TEWANTIN
Medium: oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 3.7999999999999998 x 102 cm
Artist Statement:
Spring is a time for celebration. I feel energised, inspired and above all awed by the way the seasons cycle through the years, and I look forward to spring coming again. It has felt like a long winter for many reasons. With the world full of uncertainty, people have been bunkering down. I look with anticipation for the awakening that comes with spring. When all the plants, trees, flowers, birds and creatures come to life again. The tree ‘dances’ with the life that it embodies. The broad painterly strokes of the background create movement that expresses ‘aliveness’. Her painted face, is the artist bursting with colour and hope.

Photographer: Saren Dobkins

Sandbeach songlines, Vote Now

Artist: Samantha Hobson
Artist Location: Lockhart River
Medium: acrylic on canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 61 x 3 x 106 cm
Artist Statement:
Songline’ is a term that is often used to define relationships between stories, ceremony and sacred sites; the knowledge that is passed down through oral tradition, song, dance and more recently, fine art painting. Sharing these stories brings the community together in celebration.
‘Sandbeach Songlines’ captures a contemplative mood. For Samantha, this begins with a creamy white background representing the pristine sands of the Great Barrier Reef, north of Lockhart River where the artist lives. Fractured lines bleed into this tranquil background. The artist often reflects how such opposing forces echo her own turbulent life, delicately balanced between a sense of apprehension and acceptance. ‘Sandbeach Songlines’ is a gestural landscape which epitomises the inseparable dualities of land and sea, culture and identity, time and healing.

Photographer: Mick Richards

Fa La La La, La La La La, Vote Now

Artist: Kym Tabulo
Artist Location: MOOLOOLAH VALLEY
Medium: Digital Photograph, 2021
Dimensions: 16.5 x 2 x 11.699999999999999 cm
Artist Statement:
It’s the season to be jolly, and the decorations are ready to deck the halls. Boughs of holly, Tiggers, stars and feathers will festoon the house, and the Christmas tree will be laden with gifts. Our Christmas is always a family event full of laughter and love. With the focus on Tigger’s nose and then the explosion of colours and textures, I took this photograph because it represents the fun and joy generated every year.

Photographer: Kym Tabulo

To the Citizens of Paradise, Vote Now

View Digital Artwork Artist: Bianca Tainsh
Artist Location: WEYBA DOWNS
Medium: Digital print on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, graphite, frame made from sustainable timber, wood chips from land cleared for a shopping mall expansion, online video 1:46min., 2021
Dimensions: 65 x 3.5 x 58 cm
Artist Statement:
With a practice grounded in social change, open-disciplinary artist Bianca Tainsh generates spaces for reflection on social dilemma, with suggestive cues to self-evolve. Her work To the Citizens of Paradise was conceptualised as a response to the exodus of urban inhabitants to idyllic rural locations, in the wake of COVID-19. As towns swell, commercial development is accelerated. And this multidimensional work is an entreaty to these new neighbours to discard urban penchants for convenient consumerism and celebrate a life elevated by locality – our beautiful biosphere and village culture. As a development of her own recent return to ‘paradise’ Tainsh’s more current works seek to reframe the magnificence of the wilderness. At the same time, she avoids romantic and empirical approaches, and comes from a place where primal connections become fundamental for the individual to identify with our true nature, as part of the whole.

Photographer: Bianca Tainsh

Sanctuary, Vote Now

Artist: Ann Russell
Artist Location: Cashmere
Medium: Mixed Media Assemblage, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 45 x 45 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebration for me happens with and in nature. It is also the reason for celebration, especially when I have encounters like the one that inspired this work, where I came across a nesting swamp hen in the middle of a suburban lagoon. The lagoon is surrounded by houses, but the trees around the lagoon create a quiet sanctuary, within the busyness of suburban life. The work features a sanctuary for the swamp hen’s nest made by ‘painting the town’ on an outer wall, and the trees within. The work is presented in a glass cake dome – cakes are associated with celebration.

Photographer: Ann Russell

Liberation, Vote Now

Artist: Liz Celegato
Artist Location: Eatons Hill
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 91 x 4 x 91 cm
Artist Statement:
As an artist, utilising bright, exciting colours definately evoke feelings within me of enjoyment, euphoria, contentment, optimism, and celebration. They often conjure a sense of pure and utmost joy! I have attempted to combine free flowing bright colour along with stylised, patterned birds in order to seek the true meaning of the title of this work, ‘Liberation’. Liberation is the action of setting someone or something free – it is a release – and that is what I felt when I created this artwork during this new era of Covid. Our modern world, right now, can often feel so negative, strange and daunting but we all need to keep the positivity happening. Everyone should be encouraged to ‘paint the town’……however they see fit. To live in the moment and appreciate the good things that life still has to offer. To be reminded of feelings of happiness, joy & contentment. To feel liberated and to be thankful…..

Photographer: Liz Celegato

The Ville, Vote Now

Artist: Gabriel Smith
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: Cold Wax and oil, 2020
Dimensions: 120 x 3 x 92 cm
Artist Statement:
I have a love for patterns, colour and how the land looks from the sky. This work explores my home of Townsville and how the built up areas interact with the wild spaces. Castle Hill has always been my special place and I wanted to explore is delicate wildness through pattern and colour juxtaposed with the more structured pattern created by our built environment to paint the town.

Photographer: Gabriel Smith

Lost but now found, Vote Now

Artist: Ronelle Reid
Artist Location: Cedar Vale
Medium: oil on wood panel, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 2 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
Inspired by my love of animals, I create detailed works that explore the relationships between species and their changing habitats.
By combining my naturalist style, quirky compositions and pairing animals who don’t coexist, I invite people to learn more about vulnerable species and to do more to protect them.
When considering the theme of the award “Paint the town” and the question -“ How do you celebrate?” I really had to think about what I celebrate, which led to the composition of my entry for the award.
With Australia leading the way for extinction the rediscovery of thought to be extinct species has to be an event that makes you stop and celebrate. My painting “Lost but now found” depicts two Queensland species listed as extinct and recently rediscovered. The bridled nail-tailed wallaby and the night parrot. Still alive and not relegated to the dusty museum shelves just yet!

Photographer: Ronelle Reid

Jumping for Joy, Vote Now

Artist: Jenny Neubecker
Artist Location: Waterloo
Medium: Pencil and graphite on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 41 x 2 x 58 cm
Artist Statement:
No matter the weather or time of day, our working dogs jump for joy when they are released from their pens. Sometimes that’s for work or sometimes just for play; either way their joyful enthusiasm is contagious. Whatever my days’ circumstances or the mood I might be in they bring instant joy and pleasure. Without any worries about the past or anxiety about the future they live completely in the present and celebrate in leaps and bounds without a hint of self-consciousness. Being with them when they play, or work the cows, brings joy to my soul and reminds me to enjoy and to celebrate the small pleasures of life.

Photographer: Jenny Neubecker

Everywhere, Vote Now

Artist: Jasna Spiranovic
Artist Location: Hollywell
Medium: Acrylic and oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 90 x 2 x 70 cm
Artist Statement:
When the Annual Music Festival
Occurs each year in the village of my art studio there is music everywhere.
This painting depicts the excitement of community, nature and musicians coming together celebrating the sounds on the streets, gardens and community hall , hence , ” Everywhere” .

Photographer: Jasna Spiranovic

The final meal, Vote Now

Artist: Katie Hooper
Artist Location: Tamborine Mountain
Medium: Digital photograph, 2020
Dimensions: 50 x 0.5 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
The final meal. With friends, a lover, a community, with life.
The final meal. No matter the reason to say goodbye, it is a time to celebrate.
The final meal. A reflection of what was and is no more.
The final meal. A time to remember the laughter, the love, the learning.
The final meal. All the favourites, all at once.

Photographer: Katie Hooper

Flicker Sparkle Shimmer Glint, Vote Now

Artist: Sharon McKenzie
Artist Location: One Mile
Medium: Beading and mixed media on linen, 2021
Dimensions: 27 x 3 x 27 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebrations are precious and can happen anytime of the day or night but I always associate them with the sensory experience of light. We effectively “paint the town” with light: the flash of a phone camera, the sparkle of sequinned, beaded dresses, bags and jewellery, the flickering of candle light, small fairy lights twinkling on at tree, colored light bulbs and bright diamond like lights. The clusters of colorfully dressed people that breaks up and reforms during the festivities moving and reflecting light like water.

Photographer: Sharon McKenzie

Dinner Date, Vote Now

Artist: Katherine Civil
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: watercolour on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 42 x 0.10000000000000001 x 30 cm
Artist Statement:
What a joy to celebrate dinner and show with someone. However over dinner there is a vase of
flowers set in front of the happy couple. Executed in watercolour these flowers are a living symbol
of their love. With watercolours melting into one another, they display time passing and the end
of life. There is a painting that is pre-empting the night of fun and laughter, together.

Photographer: Katherine Civil

High Tea, Vote Now

Artist: Wayne Boyle
Artist Location: Silkstone
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 61 x 4 x 61 cm
Artist Statement:
High Tea, a time to unwind, laugh, eat cake, drink tea with friends and family, forget about our troubles. We have suffered through the isolation, paper cups and takeaway. At the end of Covid lockdown Queenslanders have emerged better off than most, now we can enjoy a new normal with the freedom we have missed so much.
With bold brushstrokes I strive to capture the opulence, social engagement, the eccentric and the ordinary, flamboyant relationships, joyous occasions, outpouring of emotions, lively conversation, laughter, and tears.
Our support networks have never been more valuable, we have probably come to take for granted the simple pleasures such as getting out and sharing cake and a cuppa, enjoying each other’s company and conversation, meeting face to face, listening to the highs and lows, laughing till we cry.
Time to get out of the house, what better way to celebrate than with high tea.

Photographer: Wayne Boyle

Unabashed Bliss, Vote Now

Artist: Josie Bennett
Artist Location: Mount Coolum
Medium: Archival ink on 300gsm cotton rag, 2021
Dimensions: 20.32 x 0 x 30.48 cm
Artist Statement:
Children remind us of the exquisiteness of every moment, and a playful readiness for anything allows us to feel the joy of such moments and celebrate them entirely.
While walking with a friend and her daughter, I managed to capture her daughter in a moment of unabashed bliss. After the two of them had spent the day apart, they were thrilled to be in each other’s presence once again. Their satisfaction and happiness were palpable and contagious.
Despite familiarity with the subject, my approach was similar to that of street photography in that it was an unplanned, quick response to a candid moment.
This photo serves as a reminder to be playful, to ‘Paint the Town’ and celebrate life’s joyful moments, both big and small.

Photographer: Josie Bennett

I Bring You Gifts, Vote Now

Artist: Maharlina Gorospe-Lockie
Artist Location: Palm Cove
Medium: Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 88.599999999999994 x 3.5 x 48.600000000000001 cm
Artist Statement:
Maharlina Gorospe-Lockie’s work expresses the beauty of landscape while exploring tensions between stasis and change, nostalgia and threat, celebration and despoilment. “I Bring You Gifts” invites the viewer to immerse themselves in water, forest and sky, to find their own sense of scale, time, and joy.

Photographer: Daniela Vavrova

The Sacred Tree (Araucaria bidwillii), Vote Now

Artist: Leisa Gunton
Artist Location: Cambroon
Medium: 500m of natural fibre, 4000 knots, handmade porcelain pieces embedded with Bunya, cats claw hoops, strung onto Bunya heartwood, hand shaped and sealed with fire, and 100% biodegradable., 2021
Dimensions: 100 x 2 x 100 cm
Artist Statement:
The sacred tree is better known as the Bunya Pine. Bunyas dominated the landscape of the great subcontinent Gondwanda, 200million years ago. It was lore to never harm these sacred trees, but as early settlers logged the giants of yesteryear, the local indigenous still mourn for their loss.
The great Bunya gathering was an annual tradition that united indigenous peoples of this land, and many would make the pilgrimage to celebrate the abundance that the Bunyi/Bonyi would bring. Due to covid19, the gathering was unable to happen, so I created this 100% biodegradable wall hanging in recognition of The Kabi Kabi people and celebrate the Bunya.

Photographer: Richard Muldoon

My Big Red Heart, Vote Now

Artist: Sandra Ross
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: Mixed Media, 2021
Dimensions: 80 x 0.20000000000000001 x 108 cm
Artist Statement:
I immediately thought of ‘red’, “painting the town RED”. A celebration of love. Our love for each other, our love for those who are no longer with us and the love for those important to us – whether that’s from a distance or together.
My work uses the beauty of the natural world as a springboard for expressing loss, loss of loved ones and loss of our environment.
When I begin the work, I use a large brush on a long stick and watery ink with the work on the floor. Like tears, it drips and flows. I think about how I celebrate those who have gone before me and the marks that are left in my heart.
Turning inwards, I listen closely, feel blessed and celebrate those around me and the love we all share.

Photographer: Sandra Ross

Wallum 3, Vote Now

Artist: Joolie Gibbs
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: Local botanical inks on Arches paper, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 0 x 56.5 cm
Artist Statement:
A sign of the times, or a sign of my age, means I have revisited what I would term ‘painting the town red’. These days I celebrate more and more my local/regional environment, which gives me bigger thrills than a night on the town.
I can thoroughly feel fulfilled with a day walking, listening and observing nature, in particular the Wallum heathlands. Sighting the new wildflowers each season gives much joy, and the fact that brave women before me, advocated to save the Cooloola National Park from destruction from mining and logging in the 1960’s gives me cause for celebration.
In respecting this fragile but impermanent environment, constantly in a state of transience, I choose to only use botanical inks I have made from my property. Luscious, sepia red colours from Gympie Messmate, Iron Bark, Eucalyptus, Bunya and golden yellow from the Red Kamala, compound my love of my environment.

Photographer: Joolie Gibbs

Golden Days, Vote Now

Artist: Kym Tabulo
Artist Location: MOOLOOLAH VALLEY
Medium: Mixed, 2021
Dimensions: 11.699999999999999 x 2 x 16.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebrating a family birthday with a day at the beach is simply perfect. Especially when it ends in beachcombing at sunset on Bulcock Beach with a Golden Beach skyline. It is a special place where the land meets the sea, and the buildings frame the vista. To create this artwork, I blend my abstract watercolour painting with my photographs and digital drawing techniques. This process allows me to express the theme of a delightful, calm celebration that creates long lasting memories.

Photographer: Kym Tabulo

Private Party, Vote Now

Artist: Anne Pyle
Artist Location: Edge Hill
Medium: mixed media on board, 2020
Dimensions: 60 x 0.5 x 90 cm
Artist Statement:
The challenge for this work was to create an ‘inexplicable world’. I found myself with Chagall as I utilised my own style….abstract lyrical minimilist story places.
The uplifting scene provides unexpected interractions which celebrate the theme, painting the town.

Photographer: Anne Pyle

Place, Time and Country, Vote Now

Artist: Rhondda Scott
Artist Location: Tambo
Medium: Oil on Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 4 x 40 cm
Artist Statement:
The ochre fields in Tambo are a very spiritual place to paint. The big sky. The travelled earth. Her stories are found in abundance and the colours of the earth release in me something that makes my heart sing. There is a music in the outback that touches everything. I have started using ochre gathered from here to create my own paints and incorporate them into my work to create the truth that is the outback. The effort to crush and mix rocks to create paint here places me even closer to the subjects I paint. This helps me release the song in her soil. It puts the earth into my work and pulls my work back to its origins.

Photographer: Rhondda Scott

Sunday Morning, Vote Now

Artist: Eva Fritz
Artist Location: Sadliers Crossing
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 100 x 1 x 120 cm
Artist Statement:
For myself, ‘Paint the Town’ holds similarities and differences post 2020. Similarities are things like waking up with the sweet evidence of the night before: my discarded clothes and paraphernalia from the evening, and the still-lurking adrenaline from the fond memories of the places I have gone and the people I have been with. Sitting on the edge of my bed the morning after and relishing the recall of the experiences, however simple or subjectively grandiose they were, can often be as rewarding and fulfilling as the night itself. Differences is there is often a whole new sense of organisation and restriction that accompanies these nights, as suggested by the Check in Qld App. Reflecting this is the juxtaposition of spontaneity of brushstrokes and abandonment of objects in this piece with the harsh lines and flat tones of the mobile device.

Photographer: Eva Fritz

Tallulah, Vote Now

Artist: Gayle Fleming
Artist Location: GOODNA
Medium: Acrylic on Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 29 x 0 x 21.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I am the vase on the table.
My name is Tallulah and I have a wild side.
Much like the flowers in me.
By day I am content, quietly reflecting on my role to display myself.
Tonight I dance on the table, celebrating my freedom.
I don’t need an audience, I am totally me.
When I put on my dancing shoes, I am the total surprise package.
Again energised, I dance till exhausted.
Happy to slip into my vase, secretly content.
This ritual I love and wait till darkness approaches.
To again be, wild Tallulah.

Photographer: Gayle Fleming

Flying Art, Vote Now

Artist: Christa Coetzee
Artist Location: Clear Mountain
Medium: Mixed Media on Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 87 x 0.20000000000000001 x 64 cm
Artist Statement:
Flying Art
Imagine innocent youth. Combined with silver strands of wisdom.
Flying with whimsical wings of freedom, fuelled with flawless wisdom,
through time on a pendulum suspended from a universe filled with
1010010011101110011000’s and you are one block in the chain…
Knowing nothing yet everything.
In this virtual ‘apple’ world of songs yet to be ‘sung’

Photographer: Christa Coetzee

Joie de vivre, Vote Now

Artist: Kerry Wilson
Artist Location: Yandina
Medium: Mixed Media on paper, 2020
Dimensions: 61 x 0 x 45 cm
Artist Statement:
I enjoy the drama of romantic landscapes, and I enjoy mark-making.
I enjoy the calligraphic and floating perspective of Chinese landscapes.
I enjoy automatic drawing and the excitement of chance.
All of these things are distilled into my own personal iconography.
Painting helps me to understand the world, to celebrate the natural world, to see, to feel, and to live in the moment.
My aim is to invoke the spirit and feeling of the natural world.
I invite the viewer to experience and connect with the exuberant enjoyment of life.

Photographer: Kerry Wilson

Family Colour, Vote Now

Artist: Tricia Reust
Artist Location: Clontarf
Medium: Mixed Media on Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 3 x 76 cm
Artist Statement:
Artist Statement – Tricia Reust
FAMILY COLOUR
Mixed Media on Canvas
76 sq cms
Joy and undaunted application abound every time we create together – how better to celebrate being an artist than to share art with my grandchildren? They bring me closer to the primary reasons I draw each day.
Here, a portrait of Nanna (me!), a portrait of Rudolph and an ice cream melting in the sun – all gifts – are collaged around my jar drawing, full to the brim with rediscovery of my life work.
When we make art together we “paint the town” in family colour.

Photographer: mark Lutz

Inside Adventure 1, Vote Now

Artist: Kym Barrett
Artist Location: Chatsworth
Medium: oils and cold wax medium on board, 2021
Dimensions: 55 x 4 x 55 cm
Artist Statement:
INSIDE ADVENTURE emerged organically out of the painting process of building up and breaking down layers using oils, oilsticks and other drawing media. It was an exciting adventure, (a celebration even!) with rapid gestural mark-making, quick paint applications.
Not the usual way a person might celebrate but during Covid 19 restrictions in 2020, the studio solitude was the perfect place to have fun!
I’m not a party girl. Never have been. No painting the town red for me!
This work can be seen as an internal landscape, while tethered to memories of my creek at the bottom of my property, where I regularly sit and draw. That I can do this, is cause for daily gratitude and honouring.
My abstract vocabulary of colour, texture and mark expresses my lively connection to place, as well as a traversing of the mysterious, ambiguous terrain in the process of both painting and living.

Photographer: Kym Barrett

Mangos Are On, Vote Now

Artist: Colleen Gardener
Artist Location: Harrisville
Medium: Oil, 2021
Dimensions: 47 x 5.0000000000000003E-2 x 63 cm
Artist Statement:
I wouldn’t call it simple or elegant, but certainly a riotous explosion of the teasing of the senses…..the just right colour and aromas, the passing of the pinch test,.. the expectancy, that comes with the year long wait for Mango Season. Friends and family arriving to feast and share the many ways to enjoy their annual arrival and of course my visual senses awakened to paint them, celebrating their gorgeous plump form and colour.

Photographer: Colleen Gardener

Charlie’s Party, Vote Now

Artist: Susan Dryden
Artist Location: Lockyer Valley
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 45 x 5 x 55 cm
Artist Statement:
Charlie’s party was a celebration that brought friends from as far away as Boonah, The Lockyer Valley and Brisbane to Maleny. It was an occasion for old friends to gather and celebrate our long friendships and to meet new ones. We may not be 20 again but we dined and laughed and felt 20. The painting captures just a moment at the party.

Photographer: Susan Dryden

Topography, Vote Now

Artist: Barbara Pierce
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: acrylic & collage on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 3.5 x 91 cm
Artist Statement:
A celebration can be described – and shaped – by its’ location in the landscape. The landscape where I live has been the inspiration for this painting. Collage and acrylic paint have been used to make reference to a hillside – its’ rocks and pathways – and a celebration at day’s end as night falls.
Every day I connect with the surrounding environment and notice the changes – subtle or dramatic – depending on the time of day, the season or whatever is happening at the time. All sensory stimuli have an effect or leave an impression. Every day I quietly celebrate ‘my’ landscape.
In this painting I have reinterpreted the landscape surroundings and played with the idea of the possible appearance of a celebration at day’s end in the imagined topography of this environment. Every celebration – like every day – is unique. A celebration takes on a life and shape of it’s own.

Photographer: Ed Pierce

Kickin Up Ya Heels, Vote Now

Artist: Donna Rivers
Artist Location: Jundah
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 3.5 x 60 cm
Artist Statement:
My preference is to explore with acrylic mediums and textures in a free style to bring my art pieces to life.

Kicking Up Ya Heels has been created with bold colours, textures and evolving brush strokes. With feelings that bring joy of having fun, a connection to country, family and friends and elevates life in our town.

My artwork captures the sense of excitement of the ‘paint the town’ theme as it represents the atmosphere, culture and people of my town, Jundah, during times of celebration. It has a strong visual appetite for colours in my outback surrounding at festive times.

Photographer: Donna Rivers

Purlingbrook Fall, Vote Now

Artist: Paul de Zubicaray
Artist Location: Albany Creek
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 102 x 4 x 76 cm
Artist Statement:
For the inaugural Merv award I have painted a picturesque waterfall in the Gold Coast hinterland called Purlingbrook Falls. My family and I have regularly visited this peaceful and tranquil spot over the years so it has nostalgic value. As the Gold Coast is renowned for its nightlife, these days I prefer to paint the town red (and other colours) literally rather than figuratively.

Photographer: Paul de Zubicaray

Drought Rain, Vote Now

Artist: Jasna Spiranovic
Artist Location: Hollywell
Medium: Watercolour on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 2 x 42 cm
Artist Statement:
In summer 2021 I was bushwalking in the Giirraween National Park where the local town was buying in tank water because of the extended drought. One day it rained and I couldn’t believe my eyes . The colours changed immediately .
I celebrated the breaking of the drought by drawing and painting in the rain.

Photographer: Jasna Spiranovic

Granite Country, Vote Now

Artist: Jennifer Redmond

Artist Location: Highvale

Medium: Acrylic on board, 2021

Dimensions: 70 x 100 cm

Artist Statement:
The Tablelands and the Granite Belt portray a ‘sense of silence’ a ‘sense of beauty’ and a ‘sense of place’ where the trees and boulders stand before you reaching for the sky.

There is an essence which is magic.

Photographer: Jennifer Redmond

Painting Aaron, Vote Now

Artist: Catherine Boreham
Artist Location: Yeppoon
Medium: Acrylic and Oils, 2020
Dimensions: 120 x 5 x 77 cm
Artist Statement:
Whilst getting to know Aaron in the last few years I reaslised he gives everything 100% effort. Much later I discovered that his skill set includes actor, writer, director and he has performed in numerous Australian and American stage and screen productions. Aaron is a graduate of QUT’s Acting Strand and some of his roles were in sea Patrol, Harrow and Hobson’s Choice just to name a few.
He wrote, produced, directed and starred in an Australian film Talking Back at Thunder. His outstanding achievements go further than I have space to mention here.
In this portrait there are no balloons, no confetti, no festivities. There is however, a lot of quiet gratitude, reflection and sentiment.
For me painitng a portrait is a joyous activity and a special opportunity that has the potential of bringing a whole community together to celebrate alongside me. It may be an achivement, or a person’s admirable character, a life that was well lived, or a life full of generosity, but also the forgotten, or the poorly esteemed.
In an age that vaidates fame, fortune and followers, what a blessing it is to bring people together, to “paint the town with the colours of an “ordinary, or an “extrordinary” person’s life. Not always necessarily for what they have done, but for who they are.

Photographer: Catherine Boreham

Human to Humas, Vote Now

Artist: Kuweni Dias Mendis
Artist Location: Beechmont
Medium: Pastel and Gouache on Hahnemuhle Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 106 x 1 x 77 cm
Artist Statement:
The words Humus ( soil) and Human ( earthly beings) comes from the same source, the Latin origins meaning from the earth. We eventually return to the soil, the earth and to the ground. Death is that humble moment of returning back to the Soil, the pregnant void and the untapped potential.
Celebrating and bidding farewell to a dearly departed in my Sri Lankan culture is to finally take the cremation Ashes to the river. Ashes are taken to that place in the river where the fresh water meets salt water. The spirit of the river takes the soul home to its source. In this ritual these ashes become the sediment of the river, its a beautiful celebration of human becoming the humus. It’s is a sacred moment where we witness the soul weaving its way to the beginning of time, the interconnectedness and interdependerbility between death and birth

Photographer: Kuweni Dias Mendis

White Rock – Elemental,