Australian artist Michelle Wardley emerged as a self-taught artist from her humble beginnings in a small market stall in Perth in late 1996.

Now a voyaging fine artist & solo musician, Michelle's vibrant ocean scape & natural scene oil paintings, have won several art awards, vast media exposure, numerous television appearances & a great lifestyle travelling & painting the unique coastlines of Australia, Indonesia & beyond. Michelle's paintings find homes all over the world.

With no formal training, Michelle slipped into her artistic career on a desire to be a musician with which she has created and independently sold over 3000 of her unique award winning artworks to customers worldwide from a vast range of locations in her 11 years as an artist.

Michelle's artwork is inspired by & reflects her personal experiences of her nomadic lifestyle, travelling the Australian continent & indo pacific, venturing by land currently in her lancruiser & caravan, & by sea 5 years aboard a sailing catamaran.

Her obvious passion for natural environments, is vividly captured with brilliant colours & a high contrast, spontaneous energetic style. Water features predominantly as a theme in Michelle's paintings, which depict daily moments of splendour we rarely notice or take the time to acknowledge in our busy lives.

Michelle aims to creating living artworks "to bring us back to the moment, to slow down or to just stop & get back in touch with nature", the image often simple.

"Everyone can relate to the ocean, a sunset or the moonrise because everyone's seen it, but I think most of all everyone relates to colour. There is a universal subconscious language of colour that triggers something in people, its used in psychotherapy, advertising, alternative therapies, sport, historical symbolism & all sorts of things. The energy & intent that goes into creating the artwork creates something special that stays with the piece & simply makes a painting come alive. Its a very therepudic process."

Michelle's reflective technique draws a wide audience. The success of her artwork is partly ascribed to her unconventional approach of exhibiting & promoting her work. Michelle has become a very public artist, focusing her artistic career, not at making it to the galleries, but getting her art out to where all people can see it so it can "affect and inspire".

"People can perceive the whole art scene as a little pretentious & stuffy. Walking into a gallery can sometimes be very intimidating.

I've always exhibited my work in places the average person would go, now I focus on places people go & reflect a vibe I feel comfortable with."

Michelle originally displayed her work in a market stall, created from a tent in a Rottnest Island campground, living the life she painted in her small raw works. Eventually her art moved on from the markets & set up her first home studio gallery in Fremantle where she held her first solo exhibition. She has gone on to have many home studio galleries in Trigg, Exmouth, Broome, Dampier, Denham, Monkey Mia & Port Neill & has has artwork featur in other venues, galleries & exhibitions in Fremantle, Cottesloe, Sorrento, Geraldton, Exmouth, Karratha, Tom Price, Dampier, Victoria Park, York, Rottnest Island, Mandurah & many other throughout Western Australia.

Michelle continues to independently exhibit the majority of her works, making the most of opportunities for display venues during her travels by finding niches to expose and involve people in the journey, ranging from coffee shops to shopping centres, festivals, beachside camp grounds, home studios, tourist hot spots, art galleries and competitions.

"I prefer to operate on more of a personal level with my customers and I think the appreciate understanding a little bit about whats behind the painting."

Michelle's only formal training in art, during high school & units in printmaking & drawing during her Diploma studies in Horticulture, learning a broad spectrum of basic techniques in many mediums, from screen printing, ink drawing, etching, painting in acrylics, water colours and Michelle's chosen medium, oils. Art history of a range of styles including cubists, surrealists, pop artists, Australian Impressionists, such as Mc Cubbin, Roberts and Streeton, appealed to Michelle & have greatly inspired her style.

"Art was never a career choice for me, art was a subject I took in school as a break from the serious subjects. Art was fun, not a career option. I never considered studying it."

An actively outdoor person, Michelle gains her inspirations from the natural environment, travelling to remote locations, exploring the natural environments of the populated areas, sitting down with her paints and capturing the scene on the spot, or having an experiential interaction and snapping off a few shots for work in the studio.

Painting in oils Michelle's works unfold as a visual and literary reflection of her life travels as a solo musician & nomadic artist.

Michelle's virtual portfolio & online gallery is www.michellewardley.com
or follow michelle on www.twitter.com/michellewardley www.facebook/michelle.wardley yahoo.com/oceanart or many other social networking sites

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