Gallery Overview
The following is are a variety from the vast collection of the various creative aspirations of Christian Barraclough. Her works range from an graphic design to pencil drawings and various oil paintings.
Byron Bay
I lived in Byron as a child during the hippy Aquarius Age in the 73-74. There was one milk bar, The Rib Cage, and one pub, The Great Northern, which is still there although the Rib Cage has recently disappeared. I remember the crazy Aquarius Festival at Nimbin. Everybody was covered in paint dancing around. I have a vague memory of being in a tree and on top of a car at one stage, also covered in paint. We lived at Mullumbimby out at Cooper's Lane, Main Arm, as well as a shack on the beach at Broken Head. I started painting Byron on my return from living in New York in 93. I was visiting family up there and was so struck by the colours of the ever changing view from Clarkes Beach, of the distant mountain range. I haven't stopped painting it since. My first exhibition was of Byron, Suffolk Park Beach, Tallows, Broken Head and Narrabeen in 98. I went up there recently and it is still just as magical as it was when I was growing up there in the wild, once you get away from the crowds of the Byron town.
Margret River
I have only been to Margaret River once in the winter. It was completely freezing but stunningly windswept and wild. I was in Perth for my cousins wedding. After which, I drove down to Margaret River with a friend. She assured me it would not be cold, never the less, we froze to death in a little weatherboard shack by the beach. Not another living sole in sight. Hilarious. But the the landscape and photos were well worth it. I hope the paintings are too. There are more coming in this series.
Rottnest Island
My mother is from Perth so we visit the vast members of her family every year over summer. We always visit Rottnest. It is so beautiful and untouched. Apart from Ku-Ring-Gai-Chase, it is the place where I feel most calm, happy and find a strong sense of clarity. This clarity fuels my determination to protect Rottnest, and Australia as a whole, from developers who seek only to exploit the beautiful, fragile and diverse landscape of this country. It's a sanctuary for wildlife in this era of megalomaniacal development, which must stop.
Central Australia
My sister has lived in Central Australia for nearly 20 years. My mother has also lived there. It’s beauty is beyond description. So ancient and untouched, completely magical. I have visited many times and the landscape changes constantly, it is awe inspiring. It must be protected and treasured at all costs forever more, as does the whole country and the whole planet.
Lake George, Canberra
I love Lake George. It is vast and beautiful. Glimpses of water occasionally, with the silent, white, futuristic, giant, skinny creatures on the horizon creating energy for us in silence so peacefully and cleanly. I did not include them in the paintings, as I didn't know how to make them look real as they look like ghosts to me. There, but not there. Apart from the Gallery and Old Parliament House, the Kangaroos are my favourite thing about Canberra. I am fed up with people calling them a pest, this is their land and their home. We are in fact the pest, and we must learn to co-exist with them, just as we must with the Indigenous Australian people who have looked after this land for the past 60,000 years.
Centennial Park Sydney
Growing up in the inner Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Centennial Park, Bondi Beach, Woollahra, Paddington, Kings Cross, Potts Point, Rushcutter's Bay, Rose Bay and Darlinghurst, Centennial Park has been and remains a constant part of my daily life and a sanctuary of peace within this frantic city. I've been there as a child with my mother, a mother with my child, I've kept my horses there for 20 years, I've cycled, run, trained and walked there everyday. After all these years, it is still as beautiful and wild as ever, in the centre of the city. Although, I feel it is at risk of overuse due to increased population in the area and excessive and unsustainable event management which has become detrimental to the Park’s flora and fauna. The bird life is phenomenal. I did these drawings from photo's I took doing my 2 hour loop walk through all areas of the park. I intend to keep them together as I see them as a historical record of the park at this time in history. I would like to put them into a book eventually.
Sydney and Botanic Gardens
I love and adore this area of Sydney, it's so beautiful and elegant, evoking a reminiscence for the old world. This series of drawings captures the glimpses of the views I see as I walk in this beautiful area. The Botanic Gardens vast and exotic flora is simply stunning beyond words, alongside its spectacular views of the harbour. It is another sanctuary for birds in the middle of this busy business district of the city.
Graphic Design
I worked on many magazines, did a lot of my own fashion photography, logo design and also worked in photographic labs doing photo restoration. I love doing logo design. I like to combine organic shapes and images with structured text to create the logo. So often I find a logo makes or breaks a business or label.
