THE outdoors has always been one of Freeling artist Sharyn Sinclair’s passions, but a late discovery of art has seen that love grow deeper.
Mrs Sinclair was interested in art from a young age, but only took up painting 15 years ago after an attempted career change went wrong.
Ever since, she has been a prominent member of the Gawler region’s art com- munity, winning awards at the Gawler Community Gallery and the Gawler Show.
“I always wanted to go back to school and do something with art, but it never really eventuated,” she said.
“When I got the chance to go to university I was 40-years-old and I studied something more ‘age appropriate’, social sciences, which was stupid because I hated it.
“There was always this itch to go back and paint again.
“I’m self-taught, so I’ve learned a huge amount through the Gawler Art Society.”
Mrs Sinclair draws much of her inspiration from the environment, with her home and painting studio adorned with paintings of animals and flowers.
Her favourite subjects are her two pet Great Danes, Pagan and Shyla, as well as the many animals and plants she has encoun- tered living and travelling around Australia.
“My love for animals and plants started when I was living in a place called Sassafras, on top of Mount Dandenong,” she said.
“It’s a rainforest up there, and there were birds everywhere.
“We had rosella parrots and kookaburras all over my backyard, so that’s where the passion for painting animals was born.
“Then, I started painting pet portraits, particularly of my dogs.
“I also took up photography and realised I love the intricacies of things like flowers and animals.”
Mrs Sinclair has now moved away from the rain- forest, instead using the view from the back window of her home, looking out over hectares of farmland, for inspiration.
“I don’t do a lot of landscapes, but the scene over the backyard is quite inspiring and provides you with plenty of things to paint,” she said.
“Painting is relaxing, you get a nice sense of achievement when you finish something and you’re really happy with it.”
Despite her relative in- experience as an artist and her lack of formal training, Mrs Sinclair now holds workshops for other prospective artists in her favourite medium, charcoal.
She hoped to inspire people to not leave art be- hind, no matter how busy life gets.
“The (charcoal painting) is just so easy and I love the texture you can create
with it,” Mrs Sinclair said.
“A lot of people think it’s messy, but if you handle it right it’s not at all.
“It’s more a case of putting the charcoal on and then taking it off to draw, rather than putting it on to draw.”
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