I’m Liss, a Canberra based artist best known for my paintings and prints of Australian birds. I’ve branched out with new collections of portraits, floral still life, woodcut prints, and fiction themed paintings. All work is for sale. I hope you find something inspiring!
Hi, I’m Liss, a Canberra based artist best known for my paintings of Australian birds. I’ve had a creative explosion in the last few months, and am working on new collections of portraits, floral still life, woodcut prints, and paintings centering on the theme of fiction. If you like what I do, please join my email list. You'll be first to see new paintings, most of which sell before they reach my shop. You’ll get the occasional special offer for subscribers, too.
In my day job I’m a consultant. All painting happens on the kitchen table, often late at night. I also write sci-fi/fantasy fiction, even later at night.
I picked up the paintbrush after having my first daughter in 2014, and started selling prints in 2016 when my second daughter arrived. After nine years I found myself stuck halfway through a bird, and painted nothing for a year. I thought I was done, but it turned out I just needed to retire the birds! I’m welcoming in 2024 with new creative directions. It feels great to be excited.
Louise De-Masi, who is an amazing watercolour artist, first inspired my interest in painting native birds. There are many wildlife and botanical artists who use watercolour in detailed and expressive ways, many you can find on on Instagram. Heidi Willis, for example, does incredibly detailed work. Then there are the classics - illustrations from bird and plant field guides, of which you’ll find many at the Botanical Gardens bookshop in Canberra.
For woodcut printing I am hugely inspired by two Australian artists; Cressida Campbell and Rachel Newling. Cressida carves immensely detailed, enormous woodblocks and prints them with watercolour paint. Rachel carves more stylised and intricate lino blocks and hand-paints the prints. I also love the design of Japanese style mokuhanga, with the use of multiple blocks to create intricate detail in colour, and have several at home. You’ll find all this and more at Megalo Print Studio in Canberra, where I brushed up on my printmaking techniques.
Back when I was a uni student, I was also a life model. I watched artists and learned technique by listening to two classically trained lecturers at the Claremont School of Art, John Paul and Richard Merito, all while lying around for money. As an artist I’d put off oil painting my whole life, for many reasons. It’s expensive, technical (fat over lean!), involves fumes, and takes months to dry. What turned it around was oil sticks - a giant crayon of oil paint you can apply straight onto the canvas. Finally I’m on the bandwagon with what I learnt twenty years ago.
You may notice most of my inspirations are women artists. They, and I, focus on subjects more commonly painted by women. Historically this has been a major barrier barring entry to the formal art world. But fortunately, there is no longer the need for gallery representation to be seen, and every reason to keep painting what women paint, so I will.
