Patricia (Trish) Mirabile
Artist Statement 2025
email: trishmir@gmail.com
instagram: @patriciamirart
Painting and drawing have always been part of my life. I love playing with colour and I often look at the life around me with a view to painting it. Where others take snap shots, I take photos with a view to possibly paint them one day.
I admire art that makes me feel happy by either subject matter or skill. I don’t like to have to untangle or be challenged by artwork. There are plenty of other areas of my life where I can do that. I respect artists that can present real subjects in a painterly impressionistic way. I love the Australian impressionists such as McCubbin and Roberts as well as the French impressionists, especially Monet. I like to be uplifted by what I see.
I love the immediacy and speed of watercolour painting. I tend to be a purist with watercolour, avoiding the use of white paint and instead allowing the paper white to show through the transparent paint.
In the past few years, I have started regular en plein air painting (painting on-site) which challenges me to make decisions about composition, colours and light very quickly as conditions change. I like to finish the painting on-site “alla prima”, in one go. I really enjoy this process. I have been on several painting holidays involving en plein air painting. I find it an honour to try to paint the beauty of our God’s world around us.
My profession before retiring was as a Botanist and I did much work with flowering plants. This involved sketching, photography and microscope work. All this work helped me to love and understand flowers and their structure and varied beauty. As a result, I really love painting flowers and have discovered workshops (during lockdown) with a flower painter in Brazil whose flower painting style appeals to me, Fabio Cembranelli. His flowers are immediately recognisable but impressionistic, very clever. He visited Melbourne in August 2023 and ran a two-day workshop – a wonderful experience.
I am hoping that everyone seeing my paintings will find something that sparks a memory or makes them feel happier.
Trish's Paintings
