CONTEMPORARY ART STOCKROOM Melissa Boughey

*News Update*
Congratulations to Melissa Boughey who has been announced as a finalist in the 2021 Muswellbrook Art Prize with her painting 'Tree Symphony'.

Melissa Boughey’s painting practice speaks of a life lived on the land and an intimate connection with both the wild and tamed landscapes formed through her close daily interactions working on her farm and her commitment to revegetating native habitat. Ocean swims, walking the dog, and drawing plein-air in the rich paperbark wetlands a stones throw from her studio make up some of her deeply resonant experiences of landscape. Melissa’s loose plein air drawings allow the viewer a glimpse into the artists working process and provide a visual clue to some of the shapes and forms that emerge in her resulting paintings.

Beginning with the artist’s immersion within the landscape - jotting notes; scribbling responses; creating a shorthand code for the natural environment - experimentation and play are paramount to the intuitive process of her paintings. Through mark-making, colour play, and a sense of integrity toward materials and surfaces, her visceral works in oil and hand-made beeswax mediums are allowed to develop of their own accord until a final, resolved memory of a landscape emerges.

Boughey completed a Bachelor of Arts at Curtin University in 1994 before moving to Southern WA where she and her family run a small farm vineyard and cellar door. In the last decade Melissa has focused on her arts practice, holding many group and solo exhibitions, as well as being selected finalist in a number of national shows including the Muswellbrook Art Prize (2021, 2019), The Paul Guest Prize for Drawing (2016), Kogarah Art Prize (2015), Albany Art Prize (2015), Lloyd Rees Landscape Prize (2015) & Fleurieu Art Prize (2011) amongst others.

She currently works from her home studio, overlooking pristine rehabilitated wetlands, and takes inspiration from her immediate surroundings. She exhibits regularly in Melbourne, Sydney and regional Western Australia. Her work is held in the Busselton Health Service, Mental Health Unit, WA, The Office of the Public Sector, Government of Western Australia and private collections in Australia, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and France.

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Media Highlights

Hum To A Different Tune (Cicada Yellow) 2021
Oil and beeswax medium on canvas, black stained Oak frame
150cm x 135cm
$7,500 AUD

After Road Trip (Ikara Flinders Ranges) 2021
Oil and beeswax medium on canvas, black stained Oak frame
110cm x 135cm
Sold
Sold

Camp Trees (Yandinga Campground) 2021
Oil and beeswax medium on canvas, black stained Oak frame
110cm x 135cm
Sold
Sold

Meet At The Waters Edge (Give You Blue) 2021
Oil and beeswax medium on canvas, black stained Oak frame
150cm x 135cm
$7,500 AUD

Take Me To The Waters Edge (Beyond The Paperbarks) 2021
Mixed media on paper, (framed size 92 x 68cm)
81cm x 58cm
Charcoal stained oak frame with UV glass (non reflective)
$2,750 AUD

Take Me To The Waters Edge (Magenta Tree Shadow) 2021
Mixed media on paper, (framed size 92 x 68cm)
81cm x 58cm
Charcoal stained oak frame with UV glass (non reflective)
$2,750 AUD

To The Estuary (And Face The Embankment) I 2021
Oil on canvas
75cm x 60cm
Sold
Sold

Dappled Light 2021
oil on canvas
28cm x 33cm
$950 AUD

Geo Form (Pink) 2021
oil on canvas
28cm x 33cm
Raw Oak frame
$950 AUD

Caught In Reflection (Pool) 2021
oil on canvas
23cm x 28cm
Raw Oak frame
$850 AUD

Quiet Poise 2021
oil on canvas
23cm x 28cm
Raw Oak frame
$850 AUD

Imprint (Layered Landscape) 2021
oil on canvas
28cm x 33cm
Raw Oak frame
$950 AUD

Grass Roots (Etched) 2021
oil on canvas
28cm x 33cm
Raw Oak frame
$950 AUD

To Tread Lightly (Imprint) 2021
oil on canvas
23cm x 28cm
Raw Oak frame
$850 AUD

Light on Shimmering Pond 2021
oil on canvas
23cm x 28cm
Raw Oak frame
$850 AUD

Dappled Light (studio symphony) 2020
oil on board
30cm x 30cm
$690 AUD

Camp Trees III (Acraman Camp) 2021
mixed media on paper
30cm x 39cm
Raw Oak frame with UV glass (non reflective)
$750 AUD

Camp Trees I (Acraman Camp) 2021
mixed media on paper
30cm x 39cm
Raw Oak frame with UV glass (non reflective)
$750 AUD

Cliff Face II 2021
mixed media on paper
30cm x 39cm
Raw Oak frame with UV glass (non reflective)
$750 AUD

Camp Trees II (Acraman Camp) 2021
mixed media on paper
30cm x 39cm
Raw Oak frame with UV glass (non reflective)
$750 AUD

Cliff Face I 2021
mixed media on paper
30cm x 39cm
Raw Oak frame with UV glass (non reflective)
$750 AUD

Across the inlet (Kordabup) 2022
oil on canvas
40cm x 120cm
In artist's studio, arriving soon
$2,750 AUD

First Spring (Djilba Season) 2020
oil on canvas
70cm x 70cm in artist's studio
$2,500 AUD

Transient 2 (with hot pink and bloodroot) 2019
local pigment and oil on linen
204cm x 190cm
$9,900 AUD

Forest Path (take a hike) 2019
oil and beeswax on canvas
100cm x 140cm
Sold
Sold

Spotty Gum and Stripey (chasing shadows) 2019
oil and beeswax on canvas, framed
100cm x 90cm
$3,300 AUD

Biodiversity (natural habitat) 2019
mixed media on 300gsm Arches paper, framed
57cm x 90cm
Sold
Sold