Summer – oil painting by Rona Barugahare

Autumn – oil painting by Rona Barugahare

Winter – oil painting by Rona Barugahare

Spring – oil painting by Rona Barugahare

A friend of mine suggested the idea of this series – inspired by the different seasons. I used it as an opportunity to play on some little canvases, creating pieces taken from my life. My favourite thing about these was my first experimentation with fine glitter over the oil paint, creating a magical effect at certain angles.

Summer – a bushfire rages hard…

Autumn – the spectrum of falling leaves, with colours inverse of the temperatures.

Winter – a vast vista of snow atop the Tongariro mountain range.

Spring – the jacaranda and illawarra flame tree make for brilliant natural decor, every time!

These pieces were on display at the wonderful Petite Pieces exhibition at Aspire Gallery last month!

I can’t believe it has been a year since I started participating in these competitions! I took part in the same ‘All Women’ competition with Light Space and Time last year and I was fortunate enough to win my first award with my very first fingerpainting – a special recognition award within the Painting Category.

Fast forward to today and I have performed a whole magnitude better in the same competition – a special recognition award for the exhibition overall (not within a category – my name is listed and everything)! I have to thank Light Space and Time for being so supportive, this kind of recognition is what encourages me to create new ideas and improve even further. They also offer quite a bit of advice for artists which is fantastic.

Flourish has just been listed for sale on Bluethumb – check it out!

Looking forward to seeing what happens next in 2017!

Strom has won a Special Recognition award which is incredibly exciting – it was exhibited in the ‘Seasons‘ exhibition with Light Space and Time online art gallery.

Strom was painted during the Sydney storms of 2016 way back in June. I will never forget the screaming of the wind, the leaking and flooding of the studio creating a real sense of urgency as I created this piece! I really love how this comes through with the wild sense of motion in this painting and I am thrilled to see it on show.

I love this painting so much that it will not be for sale – I am keeping it for myself!

I am so sorry I haven’t posted in a while but my goodness the jewellery has gone off!

I should have known but they have been extremely popular right before Christmas. I had my first market stall (Glebe) on the 10th December and worked hard to have a good range of pieces available for that – for a first time it went really well, supported by various friends and acquaintances.

All sorts of people have been buying the pendants and requesting a range of other things – earrings, lapel pins, tie clips, cuff links, bigger/smaller pendants and most importantly, sterling silver pieces (best for sensitive skin). I’ve been experimenting with all of these and have been very pleased with the results – the hardest part will be settling on just a few styles!

If you’d like to see what’s left after the Christmas madness, they’re all on Etsy and I will be putting the latest pieces up soon!

I have been busily making a bunch of pendants, it is a throughly enjoyable process and everyone loves them! Each one is unique and I continue to experiment with the textures, colours and other mediums and effects.

Laying the resin is a particularly delicate process that has taken some time to master – especially as it is heating up in the studio for summer, the reaction is quite a different process but I’m pretty happy with how clearly they come out now.

I will have a stall at Glebe markets on Saturday 10th Dec – looking forward to being part of the crowd and getting some wider feedback! Please come say hi if you happen to be nearby!

My obsession with the tiny paintings I made for Sydney’s Smallest Gallery has stayed with me. There is something magnificent about how grand the detail, colour interactions and texture is in micro scale – indeed some of the tiny paintings were online finalists in this year’s Lethbridge 10000 Small Scale Art Award!

The detail is particularly fascinating and you may recall I even looked at them under the microscope – which is something I am very keen to show members of the public one day as 2D images simply do not compare.

This obsession has resulted in the pendants you see above – half done, their texture and colours pop like nothing before. I lay clear resin over the top which adds another quality to their texture, whilst protecting them from dust and damage. I really love these and very excitedly have started selling them on Etsy – the first batch are almost gone already but I have plenty more in the pipeline!

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed one of my friends had one of my designs on her phone case! It looked so good that I had to take a picture (above). Also, I was super chuffed, I didn’t realise she had bought it (I thought just my sister had got some trial items leading to a sale) so it was a very nice surprise indeed.

It’s been quite a journey setting myself up on two custom print sites – Red Bubble and Society6. Lots to learn about file sizes and lots of patience required to gradually upload everything… I have found that my detail shots in particular work really well, I love them a lot.

If you have time I would love hear any feedback at all so I can improve the sites – or for those who have bought items (thank you loads!) please let me know about the quality of the materials!

Stay tuned – I have been quiet lately due to overseas travel and bridesmaid duties, but my next development is one that I am incredibly excited for!

Whilst visiting home last month my mother asked me to help decorate her beehive, she’s starting up a new hobby – this was the result! This gorgeous bluebanded bee is native to Australia and this experiment with cheap acrylics turned out so nicely, I entered it into a competition – winning a Special Merit award! Very exciting!

I look forward to continuing my tradition of doing detailed pieces for special occasions and will keep you all updated – thank you so much for your support.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Brisbane for the first time – it is a delightful city! Definitely considering moving there one day.

Whilst I was visiting, I dropped off a piece at Aspire Gallery (which is a beautiful place!). I am excited to be taking part in their ‘Foot Square‘ exhibition – for pieces under 30x30cm.

Their Awards night is on this Saturday 11th June at 4.30pm – if you happen to be in Brisbane definitely check it out if only to see the gallery space!

My second ever award happened back in March – ‘Electric Blues’ won a Special Recognition award in the Abstracts Art Exhibition held by Light Space and Time!

I am thrilled by how supportive Light Space and Time have been of my work – it is hugely appreciated and I look forward to taking part in more competitions in future!