Goulburn artist Lynne Flemons has been sheltering through the Covid restrictions with family in Lake Cathie.  We caught up with her virtually to find out how that has impacted on her arts practice.

Being away from home and living in a share-house with my Aunty Jan and Mum was not something I envisaged pre March 2020. But here I am. I keep hearing the refrain ‘if you think you are enlightened live with your family’ echoing around the ether world. So we enter this brave new world with as much empathy as we can muster. So now, away from my studio, I have a spot in the garage to work. Given I was returning from an art residency at Cradle Mountain Wilderness Gallery I have art materials with me.

 To keep in touch with other artists and to use this time to learn more I enrolled in online Zoom courses with the National Art School (NAS). This has given me focus and an opportunity to ‘meet’ other painters and to get some great tuition. Currently I am learning more about using limited palettes with Fran O’Neill ‘Room with a View’. I recently completed a short course with Tonee Messiah ‘Sustain your Painting Practice’, also via Zoom through NAS. These courses were designed specifically with the idea of isolation due to Covid restrictions and I am sure many of us who live outside Sydney hope this delivery style will continue.

 I have also used this time post hard lockdown to work en plein air around the beautiful Lake Cathie. Some of the work I have made out in the landscape and also in the studio will be shown next year with a solo shows at Weswal Gallery, Tamworth and when the borders reopen a show at Wilderness Gallery, Cradle Mountain to show work made there. Mid-year 2021 is a show at M16, Canberra with other two artist I have been corresponding with during this time with the idea of getting together real-time soon.

 Check out more of Lynne’s work on Instagram, and through her website.