In between working full time jobs and travelling the world, painter Asha Holmes spent her spare time after high school renting studio spaces to realise her artistic visions. Here, she created large sweeping works on canvas, in muted, earthy tones inspired by the changing landscapes she observed across countries.
‘Our family has always been really creative… so when I was three years old my Mum handed me a paintbrush and I’ve never looked back,’ the artist says. ‘Creating has always played a big role in my life. I love film photography, sculpting and drawing, so it was a very natural progression to being a full-time artist.’
Though not formally trained, Asha has spent years honing her distinctive painting style – and now, her works are held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, America, Denmark, Canada, Singapore, Dubai and Spain.
Asha’s preferred medium is acrylic paint, but she experiments with a range of mediums – burning palo santo wood in her studio to make charcoal, and occasionally wielding an oil stick that adds looseness and texture to her compositions. She works intuitively, driven primarily by colour.
‘I feel that I have a very close relationship to colour,’ she says. ‘I’m sensitive to its sensory effects and feel that colour can change the emotion of the room.’
The deeply evocative nature of colour, tone and shade is evident in Asha’s latest body of work: a catalogue of for-sale pieces that launched on Friday. Here she explores palettes, texture and subtlety of line marks, drawing on her immediate surroundings.
‘My latest collection was drawn from my environment at arm’s reach,’ Asha explains. ‘I feel honoured to be practising on Gamaragal land, and appreciate the rich tones that it hands us.’
Explore available works from Asha’s latest catalogue drop here. Learn more about her practice here!
Asha’s aesthetic is distinct and vast, like the landscape she is inspired by! Photo – Benito Martin.
Each canvas is an exploration of tone and palette. Photo – Benito Martin.
Asha in her studio. Photo – Joelan Wong.
Asha’s abstract paintings are usually made on a large scale. Photo – Benito Martin.
Asha never went to art school. Instead, she honed her painting style naturally over the years and now, her works are held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, America, Denmark, Canada, Singapore, Dubai and Spain. Photo – Benito Martin.
Asha next to her paintings give you a sense of the scale. Photo – Benito Martin.
Two pieces from Asha’s latest catalogue – from which works are still available to purchase@ Photo – Benito Martin.
Geometric forms contrast against the apricot tones an charcoal lines. Photo – Benito Martin.
Here, two different styles sit side by side. An experiment in style! Photo – Benito Martin.
Blues, greens and oranges bleed into each other in this abstract composition. Photo – Benito Martin.
A stack of works in the studio. Photo – Benito Martin.
