These are the thoughts of artist Julie Lucht de Freibruch on the painting Ephemeral I, currently available at Montville Art Gallery.
When an scene appeals to me, for example when we're out and about, visiting different places, I often take a photo to capture the moment. It's not always apparent immediately what it is about a place that I find so lovely, or whether that feeling will endure enough for me to want to paint it. This is one such painting, where the beauty and tranquil feeling of the area really led me to want to capture it on canvas.
Often, the act of painting a location really helps me to see it properly, studying it intensely, and understanding more about what was so special about it. Sometimes it's the light, or the way a shadow is cast. Sometimes it's about recognising the care and attention that has gone into making a place look and feel a certain way. It can also be about reflections, and how you end up seeing the world in a different way when you view it from a different angle.
For this one it really was the reflections and the overall mood of the place while we were visiting it. The lush planting surrounding this area in Maleny (including some mist) means that it often has a magical feel, almost otherworldly.
I replaced the rotunda from my reference image with a home that I imagined someone would enjoy living in. A rather peaceful location, leading down onto the lake. Interestingly, once I had completed it, and was adding the final wrap around paint for its bottom, I also realised just how interesting this painting looked while upside down as well.
In hindsight, perhaps I should have signed it on the side, so that any potential collector could have hung it either way up!
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