My story as an artist - Alina Jane

I always painted with my nieces and nephews when they were young.  When I was 17 I moved into the nurses home at Newcastle Hospital overlooking the beach.  Someone advised me “You need plants and a picture to make it home,” so I bought a plant and painted a mural.  It was a picture of a wave, hibiscus, shells and a palm tree. I come from a surfing family and I took up surfing at Tuncurry beach, so coastal scenes have always intrigued me.  I’ve surfed at Fiji, Tonga, Maldives and more. Later I offered to help with decorating for a café church night which was Mediterranean themed.  I painted a backdrop to give the appearance of being in a Mediterranean cafe with louvre windows. My early paintings were given to friends and family for weddings, birthdays and housewarming gifts.  My sister was renting at the time and wasn’t able to paint the walls to brighten up her house, so I painted a picture for her in vibrant colours.  I’ve loved that colour palette ever since. In 2014 I painted a serene beachscape for a cardiologists’ waiting room.  I took pity on the patients waiting with nothing to look at, and the secretaries copping the flak from impatient patients.  I sold my first painting to a patient who loved the picture and wanted one of their own.  Since then I’ve never looked back, with a growing following on facebook and Instagram and refined my skills through a range of online courses. I live in the beautiful Lake Macquarie region near Newcastle Australia. My love of water and especially idyllic coastal landscapes was inspired by holidays spent in the stunning Tuncurry region in the Mid North Coast of NSW.

My artwork is inspired by the many faces of water that are found on our beautiful planet – whether gentle waves lapping a peaceful shore or a ferocious surf break pounding a rocky outcrop, a gentle rain shower or a flooding downpour, light flakes of snow or brooding cloud formations, snowy vistas or refracted light dancing through gentle ripples lapping a sandy beach.

A committed Christian, I am passionate about using my art for the good of humanity. I’ve donated paintings to charities such as suicide prevention and womens’ cancer.  I donate 10% of all income from my art to Compassion Australia, to support their life changing work rescuing children from poverty around the world.

Alina Jane, NSW Australia