Awaiting the Flood

To prepare this painting, I primed the canvas by painting a yellow mother colour and the deep sides a blue black. When this had dried I protected the sides of the frame with wide masking tape. The surface of the canvas was patterned with a mix of three separate colours plus pouring medium, which, once it was on the canvas, was scraped back. Once dry, another three colours plus pouring medium were applied to the surface and dried thoroughly for several days. The glossy paint surface resembled a flow of colour, like a flood.
Initially I was going to re-work the surface into an abstract landscape seen from a bird’s eye point of you looking down, but I was reminded of the miraculous floods that occur at Lake Eyre at certain times of the year and which suddenly bring the area alive and attracts an abundance of insect and bird life. So I decided to paint in pelicans with colours that mimicked those of the ‘flood’ to finish off this painting. The surface is sealed with a gloss medium.

Follow

Sue Hill

Sue is a multidisciplinary artist particularly fond of the immediacy and vibrancy of painting with acrylics. Her artistic journey began in Central Africa and remains dynamic and ever evolving in her adopted Australian home. Her studio is now based in Brisbane, Queensland.

In one way or another, art has always been part of Sue's life. Sue spent her childhood in Central Africa, moving between remote mining towns, where the beauty and brutality of the bush left a lasting impression. With creative parents—her mother a gifted botanical artist and her father a skilled engineer—Sue developed an early appreciation for the natural world and the resilience of the human spirit. Limited by few material possessions, she found joy in the wilderness, drawing inspiration from the diversity and rhythm of the bush.

After getting married, she created her first studio in the garage of their Botswana home to hone her pottery skills. Then, migrating to Perth, Australia, with her young family, Sue began exploring her artistic voice. With her children settled into school, she undertook part-time studies at TAFE and at the Claremont School of Art, nurturing a growing passion for visual expression. She frequently embarrassed her teenage children by stopping traffic to retrieve interesting pieces of twisted metal for her latest sculpture.

When they moved to Adelaide, Sue became a volunteer guide at the Art Gallery of South Australia. This experience deepened her appreciation for art history and reinforced her connection to the arts community.

Sue continued to develop her skills in Brisbane through short painting courses and workshops. She regularly participates in Donald Waters’ engaging demonstration sessions held in Jacobs Well.

She works across various mediums, drawing inspiration from nature, colour, movement, and emotion. While she loves acrylics, she also enjoys working with oils, encaustics, and mixed media. Photography often serves as her conceptual starting point—allowing her to reinterpret or abstract visual elements to create fresh, unexpected compositions.
Sue’s works have been collected in several Australian states and reflect a blend of traditional techniques with a contemporary, exploratory spirit.

"I love colour and texture when painting abstract or realistic works. I also love to convey humour in my art. Sometimes, it's not intentional or obvious, but it's often there. Humour has always helped me connect with others in many different parts of the world and helped me navigate life's challenges. For me, art is about being curious, playful and expressive! If my painting surprises you, makes you do a double-take or smile, I've done my job. Not that it ever feels like a job. I am honoured that people around Australia have chosen to hang my work on their walls. Thank you."