Elizabeth Taylor
Acrylic and Oil Painting
What inspires me as an artist?
The magical Dandenong Ranges, in which I have lived for nearly 20 years, is a primary inspiration to me. These misty mountains provides subject matter, and are an inspiring landscape of mystery and changing atmosphere - and for me, a new place of belonging.
I am inspired by the work of many of the greats in the world of the visual arts. I find most pleasure in the works of European painters of the early twentieth century - Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky - where colour is vibrant and emotionally powerful. I admire the American painter Edward Hopper, for his combination of realism with an undertone of something primal, tense, and sometimes almost surrealist. Charles Blackman, the magnificent Australian painter, created pictures with similar resonance.
My own desire is mainly to evoke a realistic optimism through colour and simple images. People sometimes say that my paintings make them feel happy- which is a wonderful accolade.
Grandma Moses, the American painter who found her voice and fame in her seventies with her extraordinary artistic fecundity, is of course an inspiration to anyone setting out as an artist in later life!