When Zimbabwe-born artist Janetha Poisson-Lyon moved to Australia, she discovered the fascinating allure of the native birds, and they became the key focus of her artwork. Her audience appreciates beautiful birds too, with demand for her paintings spread right across the country.

“Recently I sold a huge painting of Brolgas dancing with their feathers out to a buyer in the Northern Territory,” Janethasays. “There are plenty of Brolgas up there, so it resonated, while my Black Cockatoo paintings have been very successful here in the Illawarra, particularly at Thirroul and in Scarborough.”

Janetha has seen increased demand for her paintings of Australia’s native birds and flora to be exhibited not just in the Illawarra in spaces like The Imaginarium in Shellharbour, but also in the Blue Mountains at The Gang Gang Gallery, in Portland, Lithgow and in Sydney too – most recently at The Ellipsis Gallery in Woolloomooloo.

Janetha works in oils and says her paintings always start with the eye of the bird “because if you don’t get the eye right, the rest doesn’t flow. You look at the eye and you’re looking right at the bird – you’re feeling it. The connection is all in the eye.”

Janetha says she doesn’t like her work to look over-controlled so she deliberately doesn’t always paint feathers as precisely as she could.

The process of producing a painting is organic but first Janetha draws her subject, sometimes using a collage of photos she has taken – the background might come from one photo and the grass or ground might come from another.

Recently Janetha created artwork for a cookbook about the South Coast due out later this year.
The book is the second in Lynda Sloan’s ‘Port to Plate’ series of cookbooks and will feature local seafood producers, recipes and insights from community members.

Instagram @Janetha_poisson_lyon, 0455 175 033 or Tokkie.lion@gmail.com