"The process of making art is very much about accessing and exposing my emotional life. Most of it is from the subconscious and I choose what to reveal and what to keep to myself. The landscapes I have experienced have had a profound effect on me and that has only become obvious through this series of works. There is obvious reference to this big rugged coastline I live near and its mighty Southern Ocean swell but there is also a nod to landscapes that I thought were long forgotten and pushed to the back of my consciousness.

I find myself messing around with colours I wouldn’t ordinarily focus on, textures and paint application as I try to recreate the inky darkness - a place between black and brown that I envisioned over a series of days on my early morning body surf. I work methodically, layering and breaking up the surface with paint and pencil, adding, deleting and observing as I go. I find this process soothing and evolving for my practice. I hope the result is a connection to my work with a little curiosity thrown in."

Colleen Guiney completed a Diploma of Visual Arts at RMIT in 2009 and has exhibited consistently since then. Highlights include solo exhibitions at Boom Gallery, Geelong in 2017, Pigment Gallery in the Nicholson Building, 2009 and First Site Gallery, RMIT in 2009. Colleen has been a finalist in art prizes including the Cambridge Studio Gallery Life Abstracted, the MLC Acquisitive Art Exhibition and the Williamstown Contemporary Art Prize.

Colleen Guiney lives in the coastal town of Port Fairy. She draws on her visual perspective and experience in design in everything she does, including her paintings which are colourful and emotionally charged with influence from her surroundings.  Her paintings reflect shapes and aesthetics that are linked to her everyday routines and the nature she immerses herself in daily.