Jodi Lewis
Background
Since studying painting and drawing in high school many moons ago, I've been captivated and inspired by those who painted realistic portraits in the hundreds of years before we had photography. Their likeness of the subject, the details, the colours, the overall tones and placements, often completed in dim light and testing circumstances. A moment in time that took time, and deft skill to capture. Their modern moment that is now how we see, and extrapolate, history; a lasting legacy.
So now, after transitioning from my school days of detailed greyscale sketches with graphite pencils, and with my ability to discern more colours than most with my one good eye, I create multi-hued oil paintings, and my own little slice of history through the lens of realism.
I started my journey in South Australia (Festival of Arts, grade 4 primary school), developed it living a few decades up and down the coast of Queensland (the inspirational canvas of my life), and am now located in Shepparton, Victoria where I have exhibited at the annual SAM OPEN each year since its opening in 2022.