I must admit, thanks mostly to the recommendations and stories of friends, family and colleagues, that I have been exposed to a huge amount of wonderful, contemporary art / design inspiration over the past 10 or so years. Melbourne seems to be a melting pot for it, with an exhibition, show or gallery opening of some description every night.
I love soaking up that pulse of the city – seeing people mingling around, talking, drinking wine and looking at / analysing / admiring the works of an artist who has no doubt poured their heart and soul (and likely a great deal of their bank account, too) into one or more works.
One of the artists whose work I have come to know and love in the past couple of years is Gretchen Mist (aka Belinda Kemp). Belinda is a self-taught artist from the inner suburbs of Melbourne and has a very distinct, visual style, not dissimilar to another European artist whose work I admire – Anne Kristin Hagesaether (worthy of a single blog post in her own right). I find Belinda’s work soothing, beautiful and completely captivating. I have included some of my favourite images of her work and workspace(s) in the gallery below. For more info about Gretchen / Belinda visit belindakemp.com or gretchenmist.blogspot.com
