Background

I was raised in the far north of Australia on my parent’s cattle station in the Northern Territory.  Our home straddled the Douglas and Daly rivers and my earliest memories are playing on these banks with my sisters, fishing with the Aboriginal ladies, and working hard with my family to develop our property.  My upbringing was uncomplicated and always an adventure. Growing up in the bush provided me with an ideal foundation to build my future upon, teaching me strength and resilience.  The isolation influenced me to draw when I was a child, and my first paintings were on rocks in the creek beds with paint made from crushed rock and water.  This is where my obsession with painting began.

As a child of the Outback, my life was simple, but very real.   I have tasted rain that was long awaited for, smelt the first day of the dry season, I have been thirsty, felt pain and experienced hardship.  I have seen death and seen birth and helped save lives of many orphans in the Outback. In the bush, children learn early to be brave and resilient. They are not taught that drinking dirty water from a creek bed will give them germs, they are taught that it might save their life.

As a young adult, I moved away from the bush for several years and experienced life and art in Australia’s big cities and other countries around the world.  Here I found an interest in Contemporary Vogue and Fashion art, and it played an important role in my development as the artist I have become.  

Where I am from, there are no buffers, no boundaries and an open mind means survival. My surroundings are my inspiration and art has given me the opportunity to transform my experiences onto canvas.  My paintings are my interpretation of the characters and real moments in Outback of Australia and beyond.

This is how I see the Earth and the Outback, even though it can be harsh and unforgiving…it is beautiful and it is the truth.

Shona Underwood