If bright, bold and fun art is your vibe, you will love our latest artist chat. Alexandra Strong Art focuses on floral abstract and contemporary still life that is full of joy!
Alexandra paints from the heart and shares with us how returning to painting helped heal her post natal anxiety.
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Hailing from Berry in New South Wales, Alexandra paints for the joy of it.
“I have always loved art and design. My Mum was an artist too, so I’ve grown up around art,” Alexandra explains.
“I have been painting forever, but fell out of the practice in my early 20s. Now I paint every day. I feel so lucky to have a job that allows me to work in my home studio.
“I am an intuitive abstract painter at heart and tend to create an intuitive painting at least once a month. My more recent contemporary still life work came about as I just wanted to try something new… I get bored easily!
Over time they have moved away from being true still life and have evolved into a more abstract still life — a little crazy but super fun to paint!
These fun works of art actually stemmed from a dark place.
“When life got busy, as it inevitably does, I stopped painting,” Alexandra recalls.
“It wasn’t until after the birth of my second child that I felt the sudden urge to pull out my paints and start creating again. I had suffered undiagnosed post natal anxiety and felt it kicking in.
Painting gave me something to focus on and became a sort of therapy. And now, it’s bloomed into a beautiful, wonderful and vibrant career.
These contemporary still life paintings are bursting with colour and inspiration from her own life.
“I just love colour! I am drawn to pink and orange mostly. Even in my blue and green paintings, you’ll find hints of pink and orange. At the moment, I’m leaning towards a more earthy palette… but still sneaking in my pale pink!” she smiles.
“My intuitive painting is my heart and sole. I like to try different styles and experiment, but I always come back to that style.
“For inspiration, I like to try and get outside in the bush behind my home or into the garden and feel the elements. If I’m not outside, I’m in the kitchen and love pretty plates and coloured bowls which always make it into my abstract still life work. These are a true celebration of the everyday things we find around our homes.”
Inspired by the elements and energy around her, Alexandra now offers bespoke, live painting.
“A recent addition to my work is live wedding and special event painting. It’s been a dream of mine for a little while now to paint live at special and significant events. A huge part of my practice is drawing from the energy around me.
“It’s exciting to learn about the small touches, symbolic elements and meaningful objects people include in their special day. I draw from these and have the honour of painting live at the event to create an heirloom piece that they will cherish forever.”
The colourful abstracts and floral artworks Alexandra creates are becoming wearable art… literally!
“I am so excited to be working with a young, local designer, Ally Thomas. She is the creative behind Malia The Label and together, we are working on a fashion collaboration.
“Seeing my artwork in a wearable form is something quite incredible,” Alexandra smiles.
You can see more of the contemporary still life and abstract floral painting’s Alexandra creates via her website. Find more information about her live wedding and special event painting here. Or take a look at what she’s currently working on, on her Instagram page.
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