Pat Duncan

I have always enjoyed creative pursuits such as pottery at evening class, making functional art using sewing and embroidery, decorative furniture painting and oil painting as a hobby in the evenings.

How I came to painting

It wasn’t until I retired that I was able to give more attention to painting. Painting provided the challenges and satisfaction to fulfil my need to keep creative.

I attended mentored classes at Footscray Community Arts Centre. A few years later I joined the Melrose Art Group in Melrose Street, North Melbourne.

I like to paint anything that takes my fancy. Here are a few of the subjects which have grabbed me:

• Landscapes of home  –  Scotland and Australia are both home to me. Then there are also those other places which bring back great memories;
• Brightly coloured birds (I did a series of Birds of Victoria, oil on wood);
• Australian native flowers;
• Portraits; and
• The Rose Hotel, Williamstown and The Bridge at Kilcunda on commission

How do I paint?

Mostly I enjoy painting with plenty of colour.  The colours in Australia are unique – from the beautiful red/purple of the Centre to the brilliant blues of the Coast.

Recently a visit to New Zealand’s South Island provided me with some dramatic, dark and brooding scenery, which just had to be painted.

As I paint mainly in oils, it takes longer to complete each canvas or board. Even so, I always have in my mind the next subject I want to paint, either singly or as a series. There is so much of interest around that I am always impatient to get started.

Creativity Cluster

Since joining the Creativity Cluster group of nine women artists, I have been challenged to produce art on a common theme. This pushes me to be inventive as well as creative.

I need either to bend my work to fit in with the theme or interpret my work in a way that fits the theme. It has encouraged me to diversify in content, style and medium.

I am always involved in the next project and theme. The latest theme,  ‘From Then to Now’, has given me many options: looking at an urban landscape in 2010 and revisiting it in 2020, and also comparing places from my life in Scotland with places here in Australia.