Bridie O’Brien

I’m a visual artist and lifelong musician. I was raised on a working farm in country NSW

Australia, with wide-open spaces, motorbikes, animals and endless adventures. I graduated from the Australian Institute of Music in 1998 with big dreams of a music career, so I set sail into the night. Music led to many adventures all over the world, however, the urge to paint became overwhelming.

In 2003-2005 I completed a diploma in Entertainment Design at Enmore Design Centre majoring in Illustration. I was on the enigmatic path to being a professional artist in 2006 after being accepted into the National Art School, however, I veered out of my studies to pursue my musical endeavours.

For the next 15 years, I travelled the world; performance and adventure - I've lived on a remote Caribbean island and busked for bread in Scotland. In 2019 I toured nationally supporting Icehouse whilst playing the guitar for Do Re Mi.

My art and music have always been entwined. Painting has inspired change and changed my perspective on what is possible. Painting is in my blood. I followed in my father and grandmother's footsteps. In 2020 I began to seriously dedicate my life to the appreciation and study of the natural world via the discipline of oil painting.

Today I am a dedicated full-time artist living in Sydney. I’m a bushwalker, a skier, and a dusk chaser. I paint my interpretation of Australian landscapes, real and imagined. I employ a variety of flat brushes and palette knives. I like to use bold colours and impasto techniques to express the energy and feel of a subject. I strive to present my work with hints of intrigue and mystery, keeping forms loose yet clear and possibilities endless.

Every mark is imbued with poetic sensibilities, laden with freedom and an authentic aspiration to encompass beauty, whether sombre, vivid, or pleasing to the eye. I want my paintings to perpetually transform, evoke dialogue and summon memories. I fled to the galleries of NYC in 2022 and to the Renaissance Institutions of Italy in 2023 to study and gasp at the masterworks. Painting is my life.