AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

Many Australian artists returning from a prolonged stay overseas will be familiar with the crippling question upon their return- What now? After returning to live in Australia after living in Scotland for six years I faced many adjustments and challenges. As an artist who mainly works within the landscape genre, I struggled to find inspiration and a personal connection to my new home on the Central Coast, as it was so vastly different from the Scottish environment to which I had become accustomed. I questioned why had I found it so difficult to find inspiration in my new home? Also how does one use the skills and knowledge gleaned from working in a different landscape to a new one? Looking into the practice of Australian landscape artists has helped answer some of these questions. It was a comfort to find Australia has a long history of immigrant artists who struggled to come terms with their new environment. Artists have been arriving in Australia from Europe since the beginning of British Colonisation and bringing with them their preconceived ideas relating to the depiction of the landscape. It was this cultural background which created a framework through which European artists viewed Australia. This research is an investigation into how myself and other contemporary Australian landscape painters are still influenced by the traditions and conventions of nineteenth century landscape painting.