Reflecting the bright hues of her Australian upbringing and the exotic locales of her global travels, the acrylic on canvas hand-painted art by Joanne Netting transports the viewer to another world which has links to reality yet presents an amplified, idealized, and optimistic perspective. She invites viewers to immerse themselves in her images to enjoy a “visual vacation” away from the cares and stresses of daily life. Netting seeks to connect art lovers with a renewed appreciation of the everyday beauty of our surroundings and awaken the innocent, inner child within each viewer to evoke comforting memories or dreams of simple, happy times.
Born in Australia in 1963, Netting developed her love of art and fascination with color and pattern in early childhood, together with an incessant compulsion to draw and paint. A self-taught artist, her unique style is influenced by the intricately detailed, colorful naïve style, made famous by French artist Henri Rousseau. Netting started exhibiting her art in 1986 and, in 1987, at the age of 24, her first solo exhibition sold out in Melbourne, Australia. Since then, she has broadened her horizons and her original and published artworks have been exhibited and sold internationally in group and solo gallery shows in the USA, the UK, Japan, and the Caribbean, as well as in Australia.
Netting’s art combines vivid, harmonious acrylic paint colors with intricate, sometimes pointillistic, detail achieved with miniscule brushes and delicate brush strokes. Although the pure and innocent perspective of a child is the emotional tone for Netting’s art, her innate sense of color and composition suggest an intuitive, yet sophisticated sense of balance and design. Her inspiration is drawn from nature and its colorful organic patterns, as well as architecture, art history, and personal memories refreshed occasionally by research or reference photographs. The artist's keen observation skills, obsessive attention to detail, setting and color palette, occasional gentle humor or subtle elements of fantasy are evident in her art. Netting’s paintings feature diverse themes such as flower fields in Provence; tropical beaches and rainforests; still life flowers and fruit, glowing deserts; city street scenes; bustling public parks; quirky cats in cottage gardens, snowy rural landscapes; lush golf courses; restful interiors and relaxing verandas.
Netting’s works feature in corporate and celebrity collections and her paintings have been displayed in museums in France, the USA, and in Australia. Joanne Netting and her art are listed in multiple art and artist reference books and journals. She has been profiled by several television programs such as Today Show and national magazines such as Vogue, House & Garden, Cosmopolitan and The Bulletin have featured Netting and her art on covers and in lead stories or feature articles. Clients have privately commissioned artworks that reflect their fascinating lives and unique interests. Unusual art commissions have included: a large mural of a New York client’s private indoor rainforest full of tropical birds and reptiles; a panoramic painting of a U.K. client’s resort and safari park in Kenya, Africa; a suite of wooden furniture featuring nature and scenery for an Australian client’s weekend farmhouse retreat, a mural with a tropical underwater reef, fish and coral mural painted to cover a racing car and reflect an Australian client’s love of ocean diving and three paintings of landscaped garden golf courses owned by a Japanese client.
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“When I paint, time slips away, and my studio walls seem to dissolve… I am in my own world, lost in my memories and fanciful dreams while transfixed by intense colors, intricate detail, and painstaking brush strokes. Often, my imagination steps in so that the finished art bears little resemblance to the original design. Although I am on a creative journey, I am not always sure of the destination. Yet, somehow, each painting evolves, almost without my conscious will or effort.”
Joanne Netting, Artist.