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The Gentle Frame- Melinda Giblett

Melinda Giblett is an Australian artist living on Dharawal land on the NSW South Coast. Her practice in painting and drawing is inspired by the arresting beauty of the Australian landscape and her deep connection to it.

Giblett’s work is informed by direct experiences of the land and its environs via frequent hikes and expeditions. Artworks originate from observation, plein air sketches and drawings, memory and photographic sources.

Inviting a sense of curiosity, valuing place and engaging audiences with stories is central to her practice and she seeks to preserve the importance of the landscape through her work.

Working in a mix of acrylic and oils on board and canvas, Giblett’s gentle nature-scapes are skilfully rendered through her soft palette of lilacs, apricots, grey blues and mossy greens. Her airbrushed effects counter areas of realism through a romantically hazy and painterly lens.

Giblett’s works are moody, thoughtful, quiet and calming with her intricately detailed glimpses of our richly textured country. Giblett’s ‘scene framing’ is the unique part of her practice for us. There is something secretive in the aspects she sees and reinterprets. The paintings offer us a new ‘look again’ moment within a fresh grabbable frame.

It’s a very particular perspective, offered up in her exacting way. For us, that notion and that capturing of moment is what good landscape painting is all about!

Giblett completed a Bachelor of Art Education at COFA, University of New South Wales in 1998 after which she worked as a Visual Arts educator in secondary schools in both Sydney and London for over 22 years. We love to see talents like hers re-emerge, so to speak. Her first solo show was at GAFFA gallery, Sydney in 2018 and she continues to exhibit in group exhibitions. She also undertakes commissions. See more of Melinda’s work here.

Words: Jennine Primmer- August 20, 2021