Tamara's StoryTamara Armstrong is an award winning professional artist based at Tamborine Mountain in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland, where she lives and works from her purpose-built art studio.
Growing up with a variety of artistic family influences, Armstrong has been exposed to the arts and has been a ‘maker’ for as long as she can remember. She paints to understand her life and cultural heritage as she lives it, blending her innate love for colour and nature with contemporary perspectives of ‘connection’, to create visually bold and uplifting imagery. Having graduated from QUT in 2003 with a dual degree in Visual Art and Secondary Education, Armstrong has over 12 years experience as an Arts Educator and entered the professional art world as a practicing artist in 2011. She has been a finalist in the Australia's most prestigious art award for female painters; the Portia Geach Memorial Award, as well as having work selected for the 'Salon dès Refusès' aka the alternate Archibald Prize, the Kennedy Prize, the Redland Bay Award and the Brisbane Portrait Prize. Her work is highly collectible and hangs internationally in private collections as well as substantially across commercial spaces and private collections in southeast Queensland, NSW, Victoria, SA and WA. Painting is her passion and her style is largely inspired by striking palettes and patterns observed both in the design world as well as from the natural surrounds of her Tamborine Mountain home. Her work largely deals with concepts of ‘Self’, ‘Place’ and ‘Representation’ and her most notable series to date is her 'Women of Colour' - an ongoing collection of portraits of fellow Australian Women of Colour and Colourful Women of Substance - raising funds for carious Australian NFPs and Charities. Tamara's work has also been seen on Channel 7's House Rules and Channel 9s Ready, Set. Reno. |
"In this life there are few pleasures that truly immerse the mind, body and soul bringing fourth deep feelings of bliss, rejuvenation and honest self-awareness. For me painting is my ultimate indulgence, my most treasured form of expression and certainly my idea of paradise. My work aims to communicate positivity and acceptance of ‘self’ through a celebration of colour, culture, nature and pattern.