ARTIST STATEMENT – John Andrews It gives me great pleasure to share this exhibition with the refreshing and vibrant paintings of our friend and neighbour in beautiful Waukivory – Meg Tulk. This time I have tried to capture the transience of daily weather changes in trees and bark, and clouds converging on hills, on frosts that crisp underfoot, and sun that blinds you with rainbow magnificence. “Can you believe the bright colours of tree trunks after rain? Then look again.” I started painting in Papua New Guinea as a dare from a plantation owner to do something other than a landscape, so I painted the execution of Marie Antoinette in poster colours on paper. He loved it and bought it, so I continued painting on my return to Australia in oils on hardboard (mostly landscapes as it turns out, with the occasional portrait.) I won the Camden Haven Bicentenary Art Prize, but my greatest accolade came from Lloyd Rees with a Highly Commended at the Festival of Fishers Ghost in Sydney. There followed a number of other prizes at local shows, and entries in Sydney Royal Easter Show, Wynne Prize etc. I subsequently trained in abstraction with John Peart and Irene Amos at a University of New England Art School. Trips to visit family in Switzerland included art galleries of course, and I was greatly influenced by the Impressionists, particularly Van Gogh with his impasto paint and green in beards, as well as Zund and his photo-realistic trees. Other artists whom I admire are Fred Williams, Clem Millward, Margaret Olley, Ian Fairweather, Ainslie Roberts, Andrew Wyeth and Ivan Shishkin. “We hope you enjoy our colourful take on life.” ARTIST STATEMENT – Meg Tulk Meg Tulk's bold use of vibrant colour is the dominating element in her paintings. Acrylic paint is used in the traditional method and as a watercolour technique to create a unique bleed of one colour to the next. The slightly abstract nature of her paintings is achieved through the addition of texture and the use of negative painting. This adds detail and depth creating an atmospheric effect to her work. The topics range from larger than life fruit and flowers, seasonal scenes from nature and memories of travel both in Australia and abroad.   “Having endured and enjoyed an exhausting but rewarding career in education, my painting allows me to express my life experiences and loves through a previously not appreciated examination of light, shades and tones of colour. (Trees are no longer just green).  The process of painting is for my own enjoyment with the product hopefully the enjoyment of others.”