Nicole Grimm-Hewitt’s December exhibition ‘Art in the dining room’ at Harbourview House in Bermagui showed her new works inspired by a recent trip to South Australia. The new watercolour series focuses on the red dirt of the Flinders Ranges, the vibrant colours of the crops and the Eyre Peninsula coastline. It was on this trip she discovered a new way of exploring these landscapes through her work. Her new medium? Watercolour. With a small pad of watercolour paper and a travel tin of paints, she made a series of landscape studies. ‘It was a discovery of a new style, using a different part of my brain.’

Upon returning from her trip, the smaller studies became larger paintings, recreated using rich and vibrant French watercolours. Landscapes of different crops became linear bands of colour, ended only by the flowing shape of distant mountains, some lined with tiny shapes of trees. Seashores and oceans became a palette of blues bounded by stripes of sand.

Nicole Grimm-Hewitt in front of her Octopus paintings.

This exhibition showed the qualities of the works as they might be seen at home. The exhibition was well attended and most of the original works found new homes. Nicole has returned to her studio in Bermagui to prepare for a new exhibition at Easter. Her studio/gallery is open by appointment via email at nicole@grimmhewitt.com.au or call 0425 299 257 or search for ‘grimm-hewitt art’ on the web.

Jane Sandilands

Nicole’s new collection of framed watercolour landscapes