The State of Being Calm

Lulani Mitchell-Oehlers

Year 12

School: Como Secondary College

Medium: Oil on canvas

Artist statement: I wanted to create a portrait combining a person and nature. I used the artist Julie Dowling as inspiration when designing the final composition, by trying to capture realism and replacing the figure’s shirt with a landscape. In this way she becomes unified with her natural surrounding and the image becomes symbolic and abstract. I used my mum as the model because she is my biggest inspiration. Her charismatic vibe brought a good feeling to the painting. I enjoyed using oil paints as this medium gave me the freedom to blend and create at my own pace in order to capture detail accurately. I hope this portrait suggests the importance of our connection to nature and shows that peace begins with respect for the land.