ANNE-FRANCE FULGENCE

BETWEEN LIGHT AND SHADOW
“The beautiful is in nature, and it is encountered under the most diverse forms of reality. Once it is found it belongs to art, or rather to the artist who discovers it.” Gustave Courbet, 1819-1877.

I have an amazing studio, right in the middle of Kangaroo Valley where I live. It is the first spot in the flat of the valley that becomes clear when the fog lifts. Then the true grandeur of the land majestically rises. I like these moments, I live for them.

The landscape around the studio is truly inspiring and is infused with a kind of untamed spirit. As an European émigré, Australian landscapes still seem so raw and powerful, especially when a combination of pale and dark skies set everything alight, creating an extravagant moment of starkly contrasting colours.

I have been painting landscapes for a long time. The previous work was created in response to poems, mostly by Victor Hugo. Painting was a romantic way to imagine another world.

This work is different; I wanted to paint nature the way it really looks, at least to me.
I do not work in plein air. I cannot stand the wasted time moving yourself around trying to find the right spot, lugging half your studio with you. The only time I spend outdoors is when I make records of the land.

I work from photographs, using the viewfinder to isolate the part which will become the painting. I grid the photo and the canvas and quickly trace the major lines, I then sketch the under-painting in oil rapidly over the entire canvas. After the under-painting has dried, I work again over the whole image. I start making changes to exaggerate the contrast, brightness, colours, and shapes, refining everything.

I am not afraid of using deep contrast or pure colour. The colours look pure because of their juxtaposition to each other, but they are never pure. They are a complex amalgam of a lot of different hues and tones mixed together. As Edgar Degas said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

- Anne-France Fulgence, April 2011.