Working between two subject matters, portraits and landscapes, while at first they appear foreign to each other, they are indeed quite similar and both are an integral part of my working practice. Both to me are portraits.

My landscape images are created not as a response simply to what is there, but as a vehicle to express my emotions, memories and experiences… an emotional roller-coaster and an endless love. With more than ten years working in the Hill End area, I am still exploring and discovering.

While some of the smaller works may be created from the back of a ute in situ, the majority of the works are painted in my studio at Hill End. Where the painting process then takes on a life of its own. The art of metamorphosis where anything can happen, and often does, constantly struggling between the conscience mark and the subconscious reaction.

But there is a risk that telling too much about the work can give it away and I prefer to suggest what to look for, rather than what to find. Consider all painting to be a self portrait, as it reveals the artists ideas, thoughts, feelings, observations and actual physical movements, recording the most delicate or tense gestures in their brush strokes or application of the paint.

‘The painter always paints himself’ - Picasso, Oscar Wilde and originally Leonardo Da Vinci.

Danelle Bergstrom, exhibition artist statement, 2007