When Amanda Hocking finally moved her artwork off the kitchen table and into a proper studio, it was time to cheer.
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Her chef son came home and cooked a meal for 30 people and guests celebrated the news: ‘‘Amanda is finally off the kitchen table’’.
Amanda makes her living training horses at her Kialla property, but painting and drawing was the passion that took over the kitchen table.
‘‘I was working in inks and oils and water colours — but I had to pack them away every day,’’ she said.
Then her daughter joined in the art explosion and things got serious.
‘‘Claire started doing VCE and we turned the house into a bomb site. The house became a studio with needles, paint, fabric, glue and brushes everywhere — Claire was studying textiles,’’ she said.
When husband Justin decided to knock down three old farm sheds and keep the concrete slabs, Amanda seized the moment.
‘‘I said ‘I bags one third for me as a studio’,’’ she said.
Today, Claire is a successful fashion and landscape designer, and Amanda has her own private space where she can leave her artwork and materials sit on benches or tables for as long as she likes.
‘‘This is my basket weaving or knitting — it’s a place to let your body and mind rejuvenate. I totally forget the world outside, I could stay here all day. My husband has to come and get me, otherwise we’d never eat,’’ she said.
Amanda’s passion for art began as a child when her father gave her and her sister a few drawing tips.
‘‘He was a very keen artist and drawer. He would draw cartoons for us when he told stories — and he showed us some basic techniques which were great for school,’’ she said.
After leaving school Amanda followed her other passion — horses, to become a riding instructor.
But when she and Justin moved from Barwon Heads to Shepparton 35 years ago, she enrolled in a two-year fine art course at TAFE.
There, her drawing skills were further developed by instructors Tim Hocking and Creagh Manning.
She also learned how to break the rules. ‘‘I think anyone can learn the basic rules of drawing — but then you have to go out and break them. If you don’t know the rules, you don’t know how to break them,’’ she said.
Amanda’s art skill-set took another leap forward when she met professional artist Judith White at a Dookie Art Attack session.
‘‘She taught me deconstruction and reconstruction. It’s a meditative process — you get totally involved. She brought in a typewriter and said ‘I want you to draw that’ — and that was hours of work.’’
Amanda said the process involved drawing in detail then using brushes or sticks or other objects to deconstruct the detail.
She then uses a wash of gesso mixed with ink and water to brush over the drawing.
‘‘I’m looking for interesting shapes and other inspiration,’’ she said.
It’s a style that has generated many sales, solo exhibitions and more recently an offer of a week-long residency at a Cradle Mountain resort in Tasmania in October this year.
Amanda is a member of the Goulburn Valley-based Splinter Contemporary Artists group and regularly exhibits her work with other members or alone.
Her work can also be seen at her husband’s accountancy firm JH & Co in Edward St, Shepparton.
She also runs her own art class at Belstack Strawberry Farm in Kialla on Wednesdays from 4pm to 7pm.
Amanda’s love for art has taken her to remote parts of Australia such as the Kimberleys in Western Australia where she spent days immersed in the landscape and waking at dawn to begin painting.
‘‘I used to travel through life very quickly, but now I take time to look at the details. Once you become an observer everything becomes more intense.
‘‘I don’t understand people who walk down the street drinking coffee. I would want to sit down and take time to enjoy it.’’
To contact Amanda, email: jaanda11@bigpond.com
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