In a little Frankston South cul de sac there is a secret garden, an oasis of tranquillity with a billabong, waterfalls, ferns, waterlilies, salmon, trout, goldfish and birds, both exotic and domestic. Every manner of flowering plant bursts from the scene. Coming through the grey picket fence gate, overarched with wisteria, a path leads to the house flanked by French lavender and the cluck of chickens. Emerging from this scene is artist, Lulu Clifton-Evans, with two blue South American parrots named Monet and Rembrandt on her shoulder.
This is not your average scene, but Lulu is not your average artist. She is captivated by the beauty and grandeur of the natural world. In her realist oil paintings, Lulu uses traditional materials utilised by the old masters. She sources her powdered pigments from around the world and likes to work on Belgian linen and gesso surfaces. Sometimes she adds a dash of ground lapis lazuli for its exquisite blue hue.
Lulu paints portraits, still life, seascapes, and landscapes. Many of her paintings are created en plein air (French for ‘in the open air’). This technique brings viewers into to the scene with its immediacy, loose brushstrokes, and quick application of paint to capture atmosphere, colour, and fleeting light.
Point Leo, Shoreham, Ricketts Point and Gunnamatta are some of her favourite places to paint. On one occasion she nearly lost one of her beloved antique French half easels when a Gunnamatta rogue wave threatened to carry her and it away. Despite the perils of nature, Lulu likes to pack a tent and go camping with her daughter at Eastern Creek to capture the many moods of light from sunrise to sunset.
I want to promote beauty, gentleness, and kindness. My work speaks of love, quietly
One of her favourite Australian painters is Clarice Beckett. “She made ordinary things like a telegraph pole, a car, an empty street, or a bridge seem extraordinary. She made beauty from simplicity. As a painter, I’m interested in the spirit of a painting. Like her, I want to promote beauty, gentleness, and kindness. My work speaks of love, quietly,” she says.
In addition to her passion for painting, Lulu is dedicated to promoting the work of other Australian realist painters. She has helped to save and reinvigorate the Australian Guild of Realist Artists (AGRA). The group has now expanded into a nationwide organisation. The quarterly AGRA magazine that Lulu helps create aims to educate, inform and inspire artists on the Mornington Peninsula and beyond.
Born in New Zealand, Lulu spent a good part of her childhood in Fiji. Always creative, she remembers making baskets from flax for her mother and drawing her brothers when they weren’t looking. “I took the opportunity to draw wherever I could find it. Art is part of me; I have always experimented with colours and materials,” she says.
Lulu has a special affinity for Pacific islanders. She resonates with their gentleness and serenity and hopes to emulate that spirit in her artwork. When she was younger, Lulu spent six months on a Mercy Ship helping to deliver food and critical medical support to Tonga, Western and American Samoa, Noumea, and Fiji.
Travel has always been part of Lulu’s life and a vital source of inspiration. She has travelled throughout Europe and particularly loves France. Lulu enjoyed spending days at a time studying masterworks at the Louvre and Museé d’Orsay galleries in Paris as well as at the Tate Modern in London. When she was in Paris, she stayed in an apartment once occupied by Vladimir Lenin. One day she would like to study in France.
Lulu took art courses through Open Universities Australia, earning high distinctions in drawing and painting. After moving to the Mornington Peninsula, she studied with internationally renowned artist/teacher Colin Johnson, who became a mentor. “What I loved about Colin is that he let his students develop their own style,” she says. Lulu later studied with artist/teacher Bill Caldwell who inspired her to paint en plein air.
Now Lulu teaches the fundamentals of traditional oil painting at the McClelland Guild of Artists. On Wednesday mornings she inspires her students with her love of painting. She also runs the Mornington Peninsula Painting and Drawing Group which she helped save, along with friends Annie and Ges Hogg. Members draw and paint life models on Tuesdays at Currawong Hall in Mornington.
Coming full circle, the former student has become an award-winning artist and art teacher inspiring and mentoring new artists as well as promoting artists nationwide through the AGRA magazine. She feels humble and grateful to have won the Victorian Artists Society’s Thomas Somerscales Trophy among other prizes. She looks forward to what the future holds.
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