Tory Burke is a successful Australian artist who loves painting in traditional oils. Her abstract painting style is full of colour, strong lines and beautiful bleeds of sparkling paint.
Tory produces limited edition high quality prints of her most popular abstract art under the Studio Elwood name. Clients can now enjoy their own beautiful pieces of Tory’s art in their homes and offices.
Tory studied Art and Design at Melbourne School of Art under Robert Gill. She was, and remains, heavily influenced by the natural forms of Australian native flora and fauna.
Tory paints with the trained traditional method of oil on canvas or linen. She has developed interesting techniques including the use of the palate knife, scratching into the painted canvas, and the dripping and bleeding of glazes.
Her Rock Pool and Abstract series use glazes and paint bleeding. This technique brings another dimension to her work, adding a luminous iridescence to her abstracts.
Inspiration
Tory has been inspired greatly by trees. One of the largest hardwood trees in the world, the huge Styx trees of Tasmania have been captured in her art. Tory has also painted the Pandanus tree which is native to Queensland and Asia, the Boab of the Kimberley and the simple native Gum tree.
Evolution
Tory travelled to India two years ago and found that the colour she saw profoundly influenced her work. “That trip totally changed my palette. My work became stronger, braver and more daring,” Tory said. “When I’m inspired, I try to work out exactly what has triggered my inspiration.”
“It’s usually colour. I bring that inspiration back into its simplest form when I paint.”
Tory is looking forward to another trip to India later this year to the stunning region of Jaipur. You can read more about the Studio Elwood team here, and visit Tory’s website here.
Brenda Simmons
Could we come and visit your studio with a view to purchasing some art.