Elaine Foulsham

Elaine is a distinguished contemporary artist based in Sydney. Originally from Melbourne, she grew up in Hunter’s Hill, where she began her art career by consistently winning the 'Highly Commended Junior Art Award' at the Hunter’s Hill Junior Art Shows.

Elaine pursued a Visual Arts Diploma at the Northern Sydney Institute, earning the 'Painting Excellence Award' and the 'History & Theory Excellence Award.' She also studied painting in Florence, Italy, under a renowned artist at SACI and attended Federation University for additional art studies.

Elaine, who has chosen to remain single, finds motivation in her independence and freedom. Her artworks have been exhibited and sold in various commercial and regional galleries across New South Wales, including the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery and New England Arts Museum. She has received numerous private commissions and held several successful solo exhibitions.

Artist Statement

I am a contemporary painter based in Sydney working mostly with landscapes, but my abstractions also evoke glimpses of a landscape. I work with mixed media, being combinations of acrylic paint, ink, charcoal, bitumen, shellac and encaustic wax. I use these mediums to create textured images of rugged terrains, vast open spaces and coastlines gleaned from recent and distant memory. At times I feel a certainty for what I wish to achieve before I begin and other times I just let the image talk to me as it unfolds. ​

Nature, open spaces, rambling terrains and coastal areas are my inspiration, whilst I like to suggest solitude or isolation. I am constantly inspired by the untamed beauty of nature. I like to push the limits of imagination and I believe I leave a little of myself in all my work.

I make small sketchbook studies of nature as well as my feelings about the landscape and then return to the studio where I work them into semi-abstract images. Layers are built up gradually on the surface of each canvas or paper. I focus on capturing the energy and the spirit of the landscape. A gradual building of stratums often reveals something unexplained that evolves from within.

My work can suggest a meaning that may differ between viewers. My work being mostly devoid of human representation is a statement or a call for humanity to recognise the vast and dramatic natural world in which we, albeit small and insignificant, are the curators.