Oil Painting

Ben Liney

Ben Liney is an Australian artist working on the lands of the Bunurong.

Artist Profile

Ben Liney is an Australian artist working on the lands of the Bunurong. Seeking inspiration from explorations across the country, he takes a rigorous approach to bring new visions of place, depicting minimal scenes in an intimate realistic form.

Working in oil painting, Ben explores the unwounded beauty of the landscape and how it can carry out the hidden work of life within us.

With a focus on rock forms set against an open background, distinct details of the natural world are revealed in order to invite a conversation of the landscape into our everyday.

Artist Interview

What medium do you work with, and why have you chosen them?

Oil paint and stretched canvas is my preferred medium for the final pieces. The colours and details I can achieve work for the subject and allow for high sense if realism whilst retaining an effect of brush marks up close.

How does your artwork get from initial concept to exhibition stage?

The works go through three key stages. First, I have to enter a landscape. I can’t control what’s there so I respond through photography, building around the light, forms, texture and access. I’m perhaps the most creative in these moments and feel connected to the greater story of time and place then.<p> Second stage is to find the compositions in the images. Through various edits and repeated testing I build up pieces that are ready to paint. I work by reduction – paring back, cropping, colour shifts etc.<p> Last stage is to paint. I build my own canvases, sketch out a drawing and then allow the paint process to take place. This is the mystery stage – I’m now in complete control but work honestly to the original.

Can you tell us a little more about your creative working environment/studio?

The most creative environment is the landscape – that's where I'd rather be most of the time! I'm energised by the discovery process. I paint from our garage. It's large enough to be considered a studio/workshop and I get to paint, stretch canvases and make the frames there. I work more on the clean and technical side and so setup consistent lighting, wall easel, a glass palette that gets cleaned everyday and brushes held upright individually.