Petra Meikle de Vlas

Petra Meikle de Vlas is a Cairns based artist working from a coastal studio around 15 nautical miles from the Great Barrier Reef, and the surrounding waters inspire her mixed media work. Rather than following conventional methods, she has developed her own techniques to recreate reef and ocean like formations, using paint to suggest water, a spray bottle for rain, a hairdryer for wind, a blowtorch for sun and gravity to mimic the tide.

Working typically in large formats, Petra treats her paintings as something to be sculpted, building up layers of material on board using brushes, her hands, air guns, spray bottles and a blow torch. Forever experimenting with new tools and methods, she continues to learn and evolve her distinctive process.