September 2020 Acrylic and silk thread on silk 55cm x 55cm $350 This Series began during a lockdown. I started taking square images of segments of the garden from my verandah. It was a reminder that since we couldn’t travel, I should really take note of the beauty at home.
December 2019 Acrylic and silk thread on silk 55cm x 55cm $350 The garden had been suffering from a long hard drought and I took an image of the desiccated garden bed. Disturbingly, it was quite beautiful.
October 2020 Acrylic and silk thread on silk 55cm x 55cm $350 The works are painted on silk and then embellished with embroidery. The silks soften with touch. The stitching reminds me of my grandmothers and the women, whose textile work brings beauty and comfort, but who often go unacknowledged.
November 2020 Acrylic and silk thread on silk 55cm x 55cm SOLD The works are painted on silk and then embellished with embroidery. The silks soften with touch. The stitching reminds me of my grandmothers and the women, whose textile work brings beauty and comfort, but who often go unacknowledged.
January 2021 Acrylic and silk thread on silk 55cm x 55cm $350 The work is designed to move as the viewer walks by. A reminder of the influence we have on our delicate surroundings.
“Jarowair Country, Peacehaven Park” Little Rocks Series Acrylic on Silk 90cm x 90cm $500 The “Little Rocks” series, acrylic on silk scarves, explores a way of communicating the importance of the overlooked. I marked out a square with locations and measurements as though the rocks in each place are scientific specimens. I painted the landscapes from a bird’s eye view. I designed the works to hang on pegs and painted them on silks before embroidering each. The sewing is a reference to grandmothers, who in many cultures, work in textiles. The movement of the silks as the viewer walks past causes a feeling of unease and realisation of disturbance in the landscape.
“On the Beach, Quandamooka Country” Little Rock Series Acrylic on Silk 90cm x 90cm $400
“Pumice stone in Quandamooka Country” Little Rock Series Acrylic on Silk 90cm x 90cm $500
“Pebble on the beach in Quandamooka Country” Little Rock Series Acrylic on Silk 90cm x 90cm $400
“What do you know about this place?” Nadine Reynolds Acrylic on silk 150cm x 45 cm $500 Revisiting my sketchbook from the series one, I looked at the panorama landscapes and reimagined them by painting on silk using watercolour techniques. The works are embroidered with meaningful lines and text such as with the latitude, longitude altitude and distance from home. The en plein air work captures a fleeting moment. Memories of the time painting are fused in the brushstrokes. Revisiting landscapes that were important to me as a child and painting en plein air as an adult in the same locations I stood as a young immigrant in 1976, evoke powerful and poignant memories. Revisiting as an adult I am also acknowledging a deeper history of these places.
“Do you know your place?” Nadine Reynolds Acrylic on silk 150cm x 45 cm $500
“Placed” Nadine Reynolds Acrylic and silk thread on silk 150cm x 45 cm $500
“This Place - Goombungee” Nadine Reynolds Acrylic on silk 150cm x 45 cm $500
“Desiderium” Acrylic and silk thread on silk 95cm x 95cm $600 There is a bottle brush tree near the front veranda, that we saved from a dreadful black fungus by cutting it right back. When flowering in Spring, the noisy miners are all over it, often squabbling like children over the best positions. It reminds me of times past of ‘bagsed’ seats ‘shot gun’ and times even further in the past when my lap was prime real estate for nightly reading. Memories are bittersweet.
“Memory of Les Misérables” Acrylic and silk thread on silk 104cm x 70cm $500 The Toowoomba Choral Society produced Boubil and Schonberg’s musical “Les Miserables”. The production was superb theatre and had an ‘effect’ on all those participating on stage, behind the scenes and in the audience. This time I helped as part of the catering crew. I loved seeing the actors rush between scenes and catching quick glimpses of them on the tv monitor in between serving and doing the dishes. Victor Hugo who wrote the novel “Les Miserables” was also an accomplished visual artist admired by both Van Gogh and Delacroix. I incorporated some of the same aesthetics in “Ma Destinee” 1867 in ‘Memory of Les Miserables.”
“Empire Theatre” Acrylic and silk thread on silk 90cm x 90 cm $500 “Empire Theatre” Looking through the eucalyptus trees the view of the sky from my home has been painted on silk. The image of the Empire theatre building has been embroidered over and into the painting. In 2022 I had the privilege of ‘moving’ on the Empires’ Armitage stage in my first experience as an actor. I find it interesting that the visual work foreshadowed this life changing experience.
“Sewing the Seeds of Love” Nadine Reynolds Pen, Acrylic and silk thread on silk 68cm x 92cm Not for sale Looking through time, this is a self-portrait teaching my daughter to sew. Images drawn by Gemima in early childhood, capturing stages in her artistic development have been replicated and embroidered into the silk. As you walk past the silk, the work will move. This is to communicate ideas of flow, change, excitement, growth. My daughter is now a teenager, sewing her own clothes with a machine. In the future her skills and artistic development will continue to grow and change. Capturing her likeness and the images she made as a little girl honour this precious time. NFS Commissions considered.
“Calendar Girls” Acrylic and silk thread on silk 90cm x 90 cm $500 The local theatre company ‘Shoe box theatre” trusted me with a part in their play. I learnt so much about myself, relationships, hard times, good times. I met amazing people. I was pushed as far out of my comfort zone as a person could possibly be. The reference for the background is a photograph I took of a field of sunflowers at Allora, half a world away from the Yorkshire sunflowers in the play. The embroidery - some text I wrote in a diary the director (Terry Brady) gave me to help me prepare for my part.
“Every child has a spirit of Creation.” Nadine Reynolds 140cm x 48 cm Acrylic and silk thread on silk $500 I was eight and we were preparing to immigrate. We needed to move around a bit, and I was not good at changing school. Home-schooling was the chosen solution. Following a Montessori curriculum we studied Art – Giotto, Rubens, Kockoschka. Strange choices for Year 4, but who am I to say? The images of those artworks including “Portrait of Susanna Lunden” by Peter Paul Rubens c 1622 are seared in my brain. Rubens himself said “Every child has a spirit of creation.” As an art teacher I completely agree.
“Where is the Pearl Earring?” Nadine Reynolds 140cm x 48 cm Acrylic and silk thread on silk $500 Interestingly, instead of posters of Scott Baio and ‘the Fonz’ my teenage bedroom was decorated with Vermeer prints including “The girl with Pearl Earring.” Years later and as an art teacher I’m really interested in aesthetic influences. I have enjoyed the challenge of learning from the masters. I have researched colour palettes and historic contexts, but it’s the eyes that have captured my soul. Who was this girl in the blue turban with the pearl earring? Did she also look up at her bedroom wall and dream of her future life? Did she live to a comfortable middle age surrounded by wonderful family and friends? We can only wonder.
“A Line Around Your Thoughts.” Nadine Reynolds 140cm x 48 cm Acrylic and silk thread on silk $500 Learning from "The Masters" is a pleasant challenge. So much of the thinking work in terms of colour and composition has been done, so I could concentrate on the demands of working on silk. I really enjoyed adding the gold. I was surprised that initially it didn't hold the amazing results I had hoped. I went back into my studio late in the afternoon to take some final photos and was astounded in the difference that just an hour had made to the light and to the effect of the paint. It really was the golden hour.