Austyn in Denim Painting

Simone Scholes began her career at Art College but was very quickly pulled onto a different track in the corporate world of the fashion industry. In a serendipitous turn, her corporate career brought her on a journey to Vietnam many years later, where she quite unexpectedly fell in love with a painting hanging in a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh city. Unable to forget this painting, Simone immediately picked up her paintbrush upon her return home and hasn’t stopped painting since. Heavily influenced by natural materials, Simone often starts with a wooden board instead of a traditional canvas. Using light-catching and colorful materials such as gold leaf and tissue paper, she plays with familiar shapes and light to create different personas. Her technique coaxes the inner layers of natural wood grain to shine through to the outside, suggesting people to reflect on what is below the surface. Using an unconventional combination of materials and textures, her fashion and music inspired artwork captures both the outward beauty and the inner mysteries of human beings.