Featured Artist Tina Dinte

Australian artist Tina Dinte’s brightly colored and free flowing paintings are created by “drawing” paint onto canvas. See more of her fascinating portfolio by visiting her website.

 

 

My start as an artist was typical. I loved to draw and create from a young age and continued to study art throughout all my school years. After high school, and being convinced that the corporate dollar was important, I shelved my dream to become a fine artist and I took an alternate path as a graphic designer.

 

 

Now fast forward to 2016. Burnt out as a self-employed graphic designer, and coupled with a number of family tragedies, it was decided to take the path less travelled and pursue fine arts full time.

 

 

As a means of transitioning back into art I enrolled in a series of short courses including Cubism, life drawing, drawing workshops, form, gesture, anatomy drawing and watery painting techniques. It was this latter course that set my path towards being a “drawer” of paint on the canvas (my catch phrase) rather than brush in hand.

 

 

My strength has always been drawing. I find the process of mixing colours, getting the right paint consistency and selecting the perfect brush, frustrating. So, after MUCH experimentation, I now “draw” with paint onto the canvas with squeeze bottles. Each set of bottles has different paint consistencies—thick/normal/thin. And the metal nibs enable me to do all the fine detail, just like I would do with a sharpened pencil when finessing drawing.

 

I find I can produce paintings with wonderful textures and depth using areas of solid colour, different line thicknesses, stippling and blending of paint.

 

 

Subject inspiration comes from old books, my vivid imagination and acreage surroundings. I love to look at the textures in photos: sea life, trees, leaves, bird feathers, and the shapes in nature: typography of landscapes, flow of moving water and animals running. These subjects are portrayed in my unique and colourful style.

 

 

I also have a passion for all things “retro.” Vintage and classic cars feature heavily in my portfolio of paintings. My art studio is a recycled shipping container, wonderfully fitted out with secondhand materials and re-purposed knickknacks. A shower head now acts as a window opener, and a vintage wheat cutter is now a door handle.

 

 

Located on an acreage under the canopy of natural bush setting, I can sit with my senses in tune with the environment. Oh, and the occasional dog cuddle on the front timber deck certainly goes without saying.

 

 

Currently I am working on a series of paintings inspired by the Australian landscape. This includes areas around Uluru, waterfalls in the natural forests and ancient rainforest trees.

 

 

I am also considering a series on endangered and extinct animals. I find a lot of painters like to create artwork of everyday animals such as cows, chickens, and flamingos. While they are beautiful and popular, I would love to create a massive painting of a Tasmanian tiger for example, or the Honduran Brook Frog (Duellmanohyla salvavida) which is native to Honduras.

 

Artist Tina Dinte invites you to follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

 

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