Donna Feneley

Born: 1962, Hay Australia
I am a Sydney-based landscape artist who completed a Masters of Art, majoring in painting, at the College of Fine Arts, Sydney, in 2013. Since then, I have been a finalist in a number of art competitions. In 2014, I was one of twelve artists selected from among a thousand to be hung in the inaugural Clyde and Co Art Project. Clyde and Co is a Sydney Law Firm.

In some of my works, darkness dominates the landscape, which is interrupted with splinters of light. In many the looming sky is heavy over the earth, suggesting an ominous storm. A sliver of light penetrates the terrain, creating a glimpse of the stillness or turbulence or beauty of the landscape. Often I aim to capture the whimsical childhood moments, such as lying on the riverbank and looking up through the trees to the vast sky. The child is not present in the picture; rather, the viewer is the child. My paintings can be at once foreboding and yet inviting. In most of my works, humans are absent – and yet I ask the viewer to be present, to be alone in the space.

I often apply an undercoat of thin red cadmium to the paper or canvas, to add warmth, before building up thin layers of oil paint to create the composition. Some of my paintings are...

2013: Masters of Art, COFA, Sydney
2004: Waverley Woollahra Art Centre
1990: Bachelor of Education, University of South Australia
1983: Diploma of Teaching, Sydney Catholic University

EXHIBITIONS
2022: Omnivores group show at Duckrabbit gallery
2021: Solo exhibition at Duckrabbit gallery, Sydney
2019: Digital image of painting in ‘Artbox' Project, Zurich’
2018: Group exhibition at ARO gallery, Sydney
2018: Digital image Painting in 'Artbox Project, New York'
2018: Four paintings hanging in Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture store
2017: Two paintings photographed in the June edition of the Australian House and Garden magazine
2016: Solo exhibition at Hazelhurst Gallery, Gymea
2016: Digital image Painting in 'Artbox Project, Miami'
2014: Part of an emerging artist show at M Contemporary Gallery, Woollahra
2014: Clyde and Co Art Project Exhibition
2013: COFA Annual Graduate Art Exhibition
2011: 1200K West, COFA Space, UNSW, Fowlers Gap Group Exhibition
2005: Tap Gallery, Art Centre Painters, Group show