THE Children’s and Youth Bowen Mountain Arts Fest will take place this weekend, running from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, 17 and Sunday, November 18.
The event, organised by Hawkesbury City Council, is an opportunity to support young Hawkesbury artists.
Everyone is welcome to attend the official opening and presentation of awards and prizes which will take place on Saturday at 10:30am.
Featured artist Caithlin Murray will be exhibiting her artwork as part of the Festival. Ms Murray is a Hawkesbury portrait artist, regularly undertaking commissioned works.
The young artist said she had been “subjected to a range of art practices that strive to highlight natural beauty”.
“A common theme in our local community is to illustrate our picturesque lives, a theme I have been eager to explore,” she said.
“My art celebrates mundane scenes, objects of daily living and the images we are subjected to as we play out our lives.
“I aim to find the beauty in these common scenes by capturing the essence of movement.”
There will also be guest artists including Deborah McCauley, who will run demonstrations and workshops on Sunday.
Ms McCauley said she has always enjoyed hand crafts and painting so she decided to combine her knowledge and experience and develop a unique hobby to keep her busy and creative”.
“After studying these flowers for many months, I have recreated them completely in 3D with paper using various techniques such as sculpture and quilling,” she said.
“Depending on the actual flower or leaf, the paper is hand painted, embossed and distressed. The blossoms of the Gum Tree, Wattle, Bottlebrush and Flannel Flower are created by tightly rolling up a finely fringed strip of paper using a quilling tool and securing with glue.
“The leaves are hand painted to add distressing, veins, shadows, highlights, burn marks and insect bitem arks to add a touch of reality. All parts of the plant are arranged and glued individually to the base board, the matting board is hand cut, a corflute foam frame is hand built and glued to the back of the frame to create the shadow box to accommodate the 3D paper sculpture.”
