Melbourne-based landscape artist Steffie Wallace is not slowing down any time soon.
How would you describe your art practice?
I have been working as an artist since the 1970s and would describe my work as atmospheric. The contrasting vistas of the sea and the outback form my main subject matter. Early on, I decided it was very important to create a recognisable and consistent body of work which would not vary in design. My paintings are dominated by the sky, generally of a dramatic nature using a fairly limited palette, with contrasting light as a significant factor. The visual interpretation of changing light remains an ongoing fascination as does the desire to capture the immediacy of a particular climatic situation. It is supremely important to me to translate the emotional forces of the landscape via light and colour to the viewer.
Is there anything special about your studio?
This year, I was fortunate to have won an artist residency with the Bayside Council, with the Bayside Gallery offering free studio space for a year. This studio is a long narrow building, more than 100 years old which was previously an old laundry. The use of this studio has been the highlight of my artistic life. In my mid-70s, I considered opportunities such as this may have passed me by, but the fact that I was accepted into the Artists Studio Program has shown me it is never too late.
Where do you find inspiration?
My subject matter involves seascapes and outback landscapes. We live near the beach so there is always reference for the former, and I have visited Central Australia and Broken Hill many times, and have accumulated a great deal of material relating to these areas. I work from my own photographs of the landscape, as the climatic effects I prefer to paint (such as dramatically changing weather or transitions from night/day and day/night) make plein-air painting difficult. I also prefer the way in which photographs flatten out the landscape and capture instantaneously the atmospheric effects I am after. The moon has been a major influence for me over the past 3 years, providing stability and normality in a world of chaos, sustaining me with its beauty and ritual via its monthly cycles throughout each year.
What materials do you use and why?
I use a range of different brands of water-soluble oil paints because they dry faster, and apply the paint with flat brushes in various sizes. I apply the paint in thin layers to achieve my desired effects which is often quite time consuming as the spontaneous effects can be minimised if the painting is overworked.
What have you been working on recently?
I have been working on paintings for an exhibition in Sydney which starts in November, titled Evening, Morning, Night. I have also been working on a series of 60 small moonlight paintings, painted from my own photographs of the moon and taken over an hourlong period last December.