Essence of Africa

Original painting Essence of Africa is another addition to my figurative surrealism series.

It all starts with a mood board. The beautiful African lady was my main subject and from there I built up the scene with animals that I haven’t painted before or it’s been a long time since I last painted them. Wildlife conservation is a really big deal to me and that is the purpose to all my figurative surrealism series. Look after nature and wildlife and they will bring you so much beauty.
6 weeks to complete this painting trying to get as much detail into every part of the story.

A special mention to the Akashinga women a group I have been following for quite a while. Brave African women from very disadvantage backgrounds stand to protect and serve; for themselves, their communities, wildlife conservation and bring down poachers. Search Akashinga women who are based in Zimbabwe and you will find them.

All edges are painted with the flow of the landscape.
Ready to hang with d-ring and wire

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Andrea is an award winning, International selling artist. Many of her artworks have travelled around the globe with sales throughout Australia, USA, Canada, Germany, UK and lots of other places in Europe.
After leaving high school she attended College and University for visual art and design, understanding different techniques and studying the history of the Masters. Over the years she has painted murals in restaurants and kids bedrooms, designed and created artworks to decorate office spaces in Sydney and Melbourne, and also had 8 paintings published in National and International magazines.

In 2015 Andrea cast aside her current career in Sales and Marketing to focus on her ever growing enthusiasm and true love; visual arts. “In my early childhood years my favourite past time was to paint or draw, I absolutely loved it. Back then I always had the desire that my future career was to be a full-time visual artist and now I have finally made that dream a reality. To me it really doesn’t matter what the subject is, what matters is with each brush stroke, that is when I have the most serene moments in life.”

Andrea sees inspiration all around her and her list is always expanding. But most of her artworks are centred around of her love and appreciation for nature, birds, insects, animals and plants.
With nature she’s instantly drawn into the colours, textures and patterns. She then paints it as she envisage it through abstracts.
With birds, insects, animals, plants and the occasional landscape she applies traditional fine art, carefully measuring and mapping out the artwork to make sure the perspective and ratios are correct. Mixing colours to match and understanding the direction of the light.
Andrea also creates figurative surreal artworks where her vision is to connect humanity more with nature in one artwork. Here she starts with a mood board and plays around with colour combinations before mapping it out on canvas. “I see beauty all around me in nature and understand there is a purpose to every living organism. The human connection, care and respect for these is vital to the survival of mankind.”