Gail Shaw
GAIL SHAW BIO
I’ve been drawing and painting since childhood and spent a long career in advertising with leading agencies here and overseas as a copywriter, art director, graphic designer and creative director and won several prestigious advertising awards including a Silver Lion from the Cannes International Advertising Festival.
In 1983 I opened my own corporate communications consultancy in Sydney with blue chip clients including Rosemount, Drizabone, Sydney Airport and major banks including Macquarie, Banque Indosuez and Deutsche Bank. I was also an advertising consultant for many years to Thai International Airways.
Being a professional artist has been an enduring desire and from 1990 I attended workshops with watercolour masters including Joseph Zbuvic and Alvero Castagnet. I took part in many group exhibitions at Sydney’s Balmain Watchhouse Gallery and also studied life drawing at the Julian Ashton Art School.
In 2004 my husband Robert Hanan and I relocated to the Whyanbeel Valley. I became fully immersed in painting with transparent watercolour and began teaching at Arthouse Port Douglas and Douglas Arts Base (DAB). In 2010 I was awarded a $10,000 Regional Arts Development Grant for a solo exhibition “Painting Paradise”at the then Karnak Theatre Gallery and more recently a $9,000 RADF Grant to stage the inaugural Port Douglas Sketchfest. I have an abiding love of the tropics; predominantly the colours and patterns of nature, its fauna, flora and undersea life. My art is also influenced by years of travel to both remote and well known locations; from the islands of Indonesia and Torres Strait to Japan, India Syria, the Mediterranean and Europe. I’ve also lived and worked in the Bahamas, Jamaica and the UK.
Two years ago I added Mixed Media and collage, oil and cold wax painting to my art practice. Intuitive abstract painting has given me an exciting new form of expression though I maintain my love of watercolour with Urban Sketchers Port Douglas/Mossman, recording the many fascinating subjects in our slice of paradise. I am happy to discuss my work with you and to undertake commissions, big or small. Please check out my Instagram
