Meet the Artist Afternoon Tea
Saturday 12 November
2pm - 4pm
Aspire Gallery
53 Kennedy Terrace, Paddington

This portrait will be on show alongside Isabella's other artwork at her "Pas Des Fleurs" exhibition at Aspire Gallery from 22 October - 12 November 2022. Click here to visit Aspire Gallery for more information.

Ballet and the other Arts provide nourishment for the soul and need to be supported, allowing them to continue to enrich our lives.
 
This conversation between Her Excellency the Honourable Dr Jeannette Young AC PSM and Li Cunxin AO tells the story of all that goes into bringing us The Ballet and the important role it plays in our community. Two ballerinas frame their conversation, representing their creative thoughts (structure and flow).

Her Excellency Dr. Jeannette Young, the patron of Queensland Ballet, loves supporting it and frequently attends the opening nights of the Queensland ballets.
 
Li Cunxin is celebrating his 10th anniversary as the artistic director of Queensland Ballet. His discipline and dedication to ballet brought him to where he is today. Li’s autobiography, “Mao’s Last Dancer”, is a story that began with a childhood of poverty. Li now gives many inspirational talks in relation to the challenges he faced and how he overcame them.
 
Isabella uses portraiture as a narrative exploring the roles the sitters play in enriching our lives through ballet. Copper leaf icons, symbolism and colour are used to show the sitters’ key achievements and motivations. Their contributions are very much driven from the heart!

Corner icons:

The Leap represents Li Cunxin’s highest achievements, realizing his dreams and his contributions to society as well as his family.
 
The Plane represents one of Her Excellency Dr. Jeannette Young’s greatest achievements during her role as Chief Health Officer. Her vision and leadership were instrumental in creating a retrieval service for regional and remote Queenslanders bringing together the Royal Flying Doctor Service and LifeFlight with Government and other aeromedical providers to provide medical assistance to those in remote areas.
 
The Kites represent Li Cunxin’s prayers as a boy living in poverty for a better life for his family
 
The Cooktown orchids represent Dr Young’s appreciation for beauty in our surroundings particularly as relates to Ballet and is also Queensland’s official flower emblem.

 If you would like to learn more about Her Excellency Dr. Jeannette Young, please click here to visit The Government House Queensland Website

If you would like to learn more about Li Cunxin AO, please click here to visit The Queensland Ballet website

Next Workshop:

Portrait in Oils (4 Tuesday Mornings)
18 May  - 8 June 2021
We will cover all stages of creating a portrait, starting with the drawing phase, where we will look at measuring methods and establishing a strong accurate under drawing. Then we will look at preparing the canvas/board, planning the painting and the initial tonal block-in of the drawing. During the painting phase, we will look at colour particularly as it pertains to flesh tones as well as establishing a full range of values in order to create the illusion of 3 dimensional form. We will also look at the ordered sequence involved in oil painting that will allow you to maximise the wonderfully rich qualities inherent in the oil paints.


Enrol through Bienarte: https://bienarte.com.au/course/Portrait_Oils_Isabella_Allis

07 3262 1808 / 0409 641 426
[email protected]

Bienarte
15 Nariel Street
Albion
Qld 4010
Australia

I am so excited that this painting has been chosen as a finalist in the 2018 Lethbridge 10,000 competition! It will be on display at the exhibition at the Lethbridge Gallery between 12 July - 22 July 2018.
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Ballerinas on a break are caught unawares with hands on hips, bellies sticking out and sending texts.
The painting explores the seamless co-existence of the ballerinas’ traditional world of dance with their contemporary world of technology.

 ​Click here to visit the finalist gallery

​“Spirit of Fire” – a portrait of Rebecca. This recently commissioned piece is the sister portrait of “Portrait of a dancer - Jane” (completed in 2016).  Rebecca’s portrait hangs next to her sister’s in the family’s home. The painting was based on Rebecca’s concert photo taken by Tom Baker (photographer) ten years ago. The small photo lacked facial detail, so I contacted Tom, who very kindly scanned the negative and sent it to me. In order to capture Rebecca’s character more accurately, I asked her to sit for a sketching and photo session. I found Rebecca’s character intriguing as we conversed during our sitting. She is calm and controlled on the outside, yet every now and then there was a spark of an underlying fiery personality. I included fluttering gold fabric as external evidence of this aspect to her. The finished portrait is a culmination of the original photo plus the sketches and photos from our session, as well as a new background.

I am really excited to have these two paintings from my calendar series selected as finalists in this year’s Brisbane Rotary Art Spectacular which will be on show from 14 May – 19 May 2018 at Central Plaza! www.rotaryartspectacular.com.au
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​Also being showcased online, is this painting entitled “October - Pas de Deux”
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Click here to see the full 2018 online gallery: myartprizes.com/award/3