Anita Phillips

Biography

I am a professional artist with a passion and respect for the landscape.  I briefly studied at the Claremont School of Art under the respected tutelage of D’Hange Yammanee, however I am largely a self taught artist.

I grew up on a farm in the Wheatbelt of WA; the landscape is embedded in my DNA.  My farming background has definitely influenced my ability to observe the elements of landscape, weather, horizon and place.  I moved into a teaching career and worked in the vast landscapes of the Pilbara before returning to the Wheatbelt.  For a while, I found an artistic outlet in gardening and renovating old houses. Inspired by life-changing travel to the art galleries of Europe, I picked up some brushes and began to paint.  In that first oil painting, I felt that I had found a medium that could express the deep feelings I have about my environment.   I have found that I can eliminate the noise of our busy world and produce works that show the moments of calmness, contemplation and absolute observation with which I have always approached the landscape around me.   

I work mainly in oils, on canvas and board.  I also work across the fields of photography, watercolours and drawing.  I utilise plein air studies, drawings and photography to inform my large scale studio work.

I am inspired to capture a feeling of calmness and contemplation in the depictions of landscapes and still life that form the body of my work. I was raised on a farm in the Wheatbelt of WA; many of my works are grounded in my love of the vast skies, horizon and weather of the Australian landscape. My art seeks to evoke a moment of observation – to instil a meditative appreciation of sense of place.