SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
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The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
Carin
Lavery
AUSTRALIA
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“Art has the ability to move, inspire and support. I believe I have a responsibility to help others through my paintings”.
Carin is widely known for her bold dynamic watercolors of our natural world. She also works with graphite and pastels and writes poetry. Her work has been licensed for Christmas cards and has attracted international awards. She has a strong commissions-following and exhibits regularly. Born and raised in England, she is now living in Melbourne Australia and sells internationally.
This painting is big, in size and expression. My aim was to incorporate the magnificent colors that we experience living by the Bay in Melbourne. Every day is different. Frequently many of these colors are present as the day turns to evening, and during the year, they all are at some point. We have magic in the Bay.
Her painting style is varied and dynamic; sometimes realist, sometimes abstract or impressionistic; mirroring the unpredictable ever-changing flow of our natural world. Regardless of whether she is painting land, sky, sea, animals, insects, people or communities, her work captures the fluid form of nature at that precise moment.
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have been caring for and protecting their land, through fire management, for tens of thousands of years. They believe in a reciprocal relationship, and that if we take care of the land, it will take care of us, physically and spiritually. This painting honors their knowledge and expertise in caring for Country.
Carin says “a cloud can be soft, full, dramatic, threatening or protective. The sea can be calming, restorative, dangerous, refreshing or a form of sustenance. I’m very lucky to be able to hold a moment in time, forever, through my work, and provide others with an opportunity to hold close to them a memory or experience that has personal meaning. Capturing the essence of this moment is the driving force of my creativity.”
“A love affair with watercolor. Carin feels an innate calling to communicate nature - in all its forms - through the challenging medium of watercolor.”
Describing her painting as “a love affair with watercolor” Carin paints intuitively, sometimes using a mix of strong colors; at other times, creating a monochromatic image. Her paintings open a window to nature for others to experience. Her purpose is to express what she sees and bring pleasure and meaning to others through her work.
She feels expressing life’s challenges through words is synonymous with visually conveying nature’s storms or the power of crashing waves through her paintings.”
Carin likes to ‘paint big’. Her watercolor Magical Colors of Port Phillip Bay spans 91 by 31 inches. Other commissions have been similar sizes. She enjoys challenging the traditional perceptions of how people perceive watercolor artists, breaking new ground in size and the vibrant use of color. Since 2016 Carin has been a student of internationally recognized award-winning Australian watercolor artist David Taylor.
Along the Sydney coastline are around 35 ocean pools, carved out of the rocks. Built in 1932, Mahoon Pool, at the base of a steep hill in Maroubra is a favorite for daily swimmers. presenting a stunning setting for bathing. (Reference photo: courtesy of Carolyn Fitzpatrick).
“We are nature ourselves. To me, we have the same importance as a cloud, the sea or our trees. The style of my life drawings intentionally conveys our essence, rather than our detail.”
This painting was one of 12 painted for my 2022 watercolour annual calendar, from which all profit was donated to support refugees, new migrants and people seeking asylum. The view was inspired by a photo kindly submitted by Nick, a resident of St Kilda and is one of his favourite views. He named it 'Breezy Days On The Bay'.
She feels grateful to be able to tap into her inherent creativity which runs through her family, in her past and into its future - stretching from Norway to Ireland, England, New Zealand and Australia. On her mother’s side, there is Norwegian lineage to composer Edvard Grieg, her great aunt Ellen Grieg is a textile artist and her mother Lise a glass engraver. Her grandfather’s uncle was Maori-portrait artist Harry Linley Richardson, his father being Royal Academy lithographic artist George Richardson. On her father’s side, with Irish ancestors from County Down, there is a family story of a link to artist Sir John Lavery. Carin’s nephew Tom is continuing his own historical lineage through the pursuit of his musical talents.
This was such an incredible sunrise and so fitting that it was our longest night of the year. A crimson sky turning to blue as night turned to day.
Painting for social impact: In addition to providing others with pleasure, Carin raises community awareness of important subjects through her works. For two years running, Carin produced an annual watercolor calendar, donating all profit. In the first year, the funds supported women and children experiencing domestic violence, and, the second year, refugees, new migrants and people seeking asylum. These projects raised AUD $14,000 for these causes.
The Westgate Bridge Melbourne. I was fascinated by the contrast of rigid steel, the fluid nature of a glorious sunset and commuters scurrying home after a day's work.
Carin has also focused public awareness to marginalized Australian Indigenous soldiers in the First World War and traditional land management practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through her paintings.
Inspired by a photograph from St Kilda resident Sharon, this painting featured in my 2022 watercolor annual calendar, raising funds to enable newly arrived migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum to start their own enterprise to become financially independent. This painting is typical of a Melbourne springtime morning; calm water, lit by the moon above with the rising sun reflecting on the boats.
“Carrying forward creative heritage, Carin says “Picking up my brushes is when I feel most real. It is who I am, it's in my blood.”
Part of a series of six fog paintings, Melbourne mornings frequently have a bank of cloud obscuring the city. It clears from the top, resulting in some interesting contrasts with cloud and nature competing for the city skyline.
Nature through life drawing: In addition to capturing nature through the medium of watercolor, Carin expresses the raw and powerful form of the human body through her minimalist pastel and graphite drawings. Quick, expressive and fresh, her intention is to convey with authenticity the ‘place’ humans have, equal to other aspects of nature.
One of the privileges of living on the coast is to get to know the behavior and habits of seagulls. Their ingenious way of 'fishing' with their feet, uprooting food from the sand makes me smile each time.
Poetry: Carin also connects with others through words, crafting her insights about happy and challenging subjects into her poems. She readily shares them through her website in the hope that they benefit others and help them to connect with their own experiences. Sometimes they convey peace, such as her poem ‘Thank You Nature’, sometimes examples of trauma from her life’s circumstances and experiences. Carin can be contacted through her website at www.carinlavery.com
For quick, moving life-drawing-model poses I sometimes draw with my non dominant hand, to keep the spontaneity and freedom, and sometimes draw with both hands simultaneously. These drawings require a commitment to not over-think the pose, drawing what I see and then stopping.