The paintings from self-taught artist Tanya Boyes are a style built on restraint. Her textural, palette knife art features thick, deliberate strokes and a meticulous process.
Her process is one that she arrived at through years of trial, error and a genuinely unexpected path into art. We sat down with her to learn how she works from her dining room table, fitting her practice around school runs, sport pickups, and family life.
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Tanya’s creative spark for art found its moment during lockdown.
“I’m a self-taught artist working from my home in Dalby, Queensland,” says Tanya. “I live with my husband, our 3 kids and a sweet old border collie.
“Before painting became central to my world I spent 20 years as a hairstylist. When the kids were younger I also studied interior design and briefly worked in an interiors-related field.
“I painted a little after high school, but life quickly filled up and creativity slipped into the background. Then things shifted at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
“With the first lockdown looming, I felt an overwhelming pull to buy some paints and start painting again. Those early days became a beautiful time of painting alongside my children. Then the homeschooling started and painting became my escape!
As the year unfolded, art became an anchor for my mental wellbeing.
“When we moved to Dalby in early 2023, I decided to step away from hairdressing. This gave me the space to give painting the time it deserved and that I desired.
“In 2024 I decided to see where it could go. I applied for a gallery artist callout, unsure of what to expect, and was stunned when my work sold within minutes.
“A major turning point for me was when I was invited to be part of the Curator’s Choice exhibition at The Toowoomba Gallery. This opportunity changed everything for me.
“I’ve been with The Toowoomba Gallery ever since and it’s been incredibly exciting to see my pratice grow.”
It was Tanya’s time as a hairstylist that gave her the eye and talent for her palette knife art creations.
“My art style is highly textural, minimalist and stylised,” Tanya explains. “I paint with an intentionally pared-back colour palette, using thick, deliberate palette knife strokes to create structure and tactility. My work often plays with repetition and spatial balance.
“While Australian birds are my current favourite subject, I see my practice as more a study of colour, composition and the elements of design than of the birds themselves.
What draws me in is how these principles — balance, proportion, tone, texture, rhythm and negative space — can convey the emotional weight of a subject without realistic detail.
“My interest and studies in interior design shaped the way I see subtlety, but it was my years as a hairstylist that trained my eye most intensely.
“Working with colour taught me to read the tiniest shifts in undertone — warm, cool, creamy, ashy — and to understand how those nuances can completely transform a look. That sensitivity now lives in my palette knife art. It’s my hairstylist brain informing my painter’s hand.
“Perspective is another source of inspiration for me. I’m fascinated by viewing subjects from an aerial viewpoint and how that shift can change the emotional weight of an image.”
Tanya’s creative lifestyle gives her flexibility and that’s one of the most valuable things to this busy mum / wife / artist.
“I’m not someone who thrives on rigid structure,” smiles Tanya. “One of the things I value most about my creative lifestyle is the flexibility it gives me.
“Most of my painting actually happens in our dining room! I don’t have a dedicated studio, so our dining room just became the space where I work.
“Over time the canvases have slowly taken over. I do try to clear everything away each night so we can sit down for dinner, but more and more often we end up eating in the living room instead. It’s a bit chaotic at times, but it’s simply how my practice fits into family life.
There’s something I love about that too. The way my art is woven into the everyday fabric of our home.
There is a meticulous process behind every piece Tanya creates.
“Being self-taught, my process has evolved through trial, error and a lot of experimentation. I’ve learned by leaning into the results that feel right, when balance, tone and restraint come together harmoniously,” Tanya explains.
“Because my work is pared back to its simplest form, every element that remains is carefully considered. Most pieces only contain around 5 colours, with a little depth variation in some tones.
“I often approach colour selection much like an interior designer does with a project. Laying out paint swatches in a flat lay, either digitally or with physical samples. Seeing the colours in their ‘flat’ state together helps me judge whether they truly work, since my palette knife technique doesn’t allow for blending or layering to create interest.
“I’m meticulous about composition. My current method is to firstly draw the birds out on baking paper, cut them out, and use Blu Tac to move them around the canvas until the arrangement feels right. Then I will trace around them once I’m sure.
“It’s not uncommon for me to spend hours working through this stage, but it allows me to refine the spatial rhythm until it feels resolved.
“Often I’ll paint a more realistic underlayer in acrylic before applying the thick oil palette knife strokes. That base gives me a roadmap for where the depth and lightness should naturally fall.
“Because I use oils so heavily, drying can take some time. Often up to 2 weeks in dry, warm weather, but sometimes up to a month if the weather is damp.”
Tanya hopes her beautiful, textural artworks give viewers a moment of pause.
“What I hope for when someone sees my artwork, is that it creates space. Space for calm, curiosity, or for a moment of pause,” Tanya says.
“Sometimes, if I’m lucky, someone shares a little of their story with me. Like the collector who bought one of my magpie pieces, then commissioned another and told me about nursing 2 young magpies back to health.
“Or another, whose three children were represented to her in the three magpies on the canvas. How beautiful is that?!
“I hold a special place in my heart for the pieces that tested me most. The ones where the composition or colour palette took real persistence to resolve.
“Ones such as my white-on-white pieces. They were a delicate balancing act, creating enough tonal variation to keep the subject visible without losing the purity I was chasing.
“And of course, my first international sale will always be so very special to me. It was a flock of cockatoos that flew all the way to Switzerland late last year. That piece marked a turning point, not just in reach but in my confidence too.”
Thank you so much to Tanya for sharing the story behind her beautiful palette knife art with us. You can see more of her work and keep up to date with her upcoming exhibitions by following her on Instagram. To view her current pieces, be sure to check out The Toowoomba Gallery.
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