Miranda Free

As a child I was constantly drawing and painting. My fascination with art continued throughout my school years and it was my intention to attend an art school – that is until my final year of high school when I became hijacked by an interest in Biology. At university I studied Molecular Biology, Education and Communication and spent many years working in those fields with a focus on graphic design and desk-top publishing. 

When my third and last child arrived I realised that pursuing my earlier interests in drawing and painting was vital to my well-being and hence I found the Arts Academy, a small Brisbane based atelier style school, to train and hone my skills. Now that my children have grown up I practice full time in a contemporary realist style across various genres: landscape, figurative, portrait and still life.

I am influenced by a range of artists including masters of the Renaissance, Dutch still life artists and the incomparable Vermeer, the impressionist and post-impressionist eras, particularly Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, Degas and of course Van Gogh. Early Australian landscape painters such as Eugene von Guérard, and the later Heidelberg school painters are a strong influence on my landscapes. Figurative painters such as John Singer Sargent and Australian Rupert Bunny delight me and I am heartened by the current move by artists worldwide to engage in traditional training in fine art and the abundance of ateliers around the world that show their art via social media. Contemporary artists that have strongly influenced me are Australian Kaye Kane, British expat in Provence Julian Merrow-Smith and American Sadie Jernigan Valeri to name a select few. 

During 2015-2016 I circumnavigated Australia 100km at time and created plein air landscape artworks of each location. On returning I developed and continue to work on a body of work based on these travels. From 2017 to April 2019 I lived part time in Malaysia, travelling SE Asia extensively and collecting items to populate my still life works whilst returning regularly to my Australian studio. Now living in the small and beautiful WA town of Nannup, situated close to the Margaret River wine and food region, I am focused on developing a daily practice of small works, en plein air landscapes and still life.

If you like my work, would like to purchase a piece, or commission a special painting, please contact me and I hope I can bring some beauty to your life.