Dimensions
About the artwork
Painting my friend Judith while painting was an act of gratitude and devotion. I have now marked a space that we hold between us as women artists, friends, and mothers. In that space, I offer my understanding of her intelligence, elegance, and her chaos, formed in our mutual language of paint.
About the sitter
Judith Sinnamon is an established artist represented by Edwina Corlette Gallery, who grew up and studied Fine Arts in Brisbane. Judith now resides in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, where she and Angela Chauvin met as parents in the school community. Judith has been a mentor for Angela’s painting practice.
About the artist
Angela Chauvin was raised in a vibrant bohemian community of people at the fringes of Brisbane’s cultural life. She had her first solo show at 19, in the iconic Lucky’s Trattoria. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at RMIT University, and her (1st class) Honours year at The Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne.
“Yellow paint is forthright, optimistic and difficult to subdue - it makes itself known, usually as light, warmth and new life.”
Behind the scenes
More than being a likeness of Judith, there are aspects of her present in the way this painting was made.
I used a deep yellow for the underpainting like Judith does for many of her paintings. I wanted that to be something that remained visible in the work. It’s a little homage to her, and how I’ve always loved seeing her work in progress, because of the way the painting grows into a golden void. Yellow paint is forthright, optimistic and difficult to subdue – it makes itself known, usually as light, warmth and new life.
It’s fitting that yellow is the first gesture in this painting, and in Judith’s paintings, because they are works that are made to share a vision of things that are full of life.
