Painting the In-Between: Reflections on Emotional Terrain in the Abstract Landscape Paintings of the Latent Series
- Charlotte Wensley
- Sep 30, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
This abstract landscape painting series began with the concept of allowing the latent qualities of my mixed media working process to surface and manifest in ways that are ultimately guided by the diversity of momentary action and thought.
Reflecting on recent abstract landscape painting work, in particular my Portal Series and The Boardwalk, I also wanted to revisit elements of the visual language that developed during the making of this past work, including verticals, horizontals and organic shapes.
These visual elements began to take on a symbolic meaning as the series progressed. I have long understood that I use landscape as a metaphor for spiritual space and that individual shapes, with my repeated attention to them, take on a deeper meaning beyond the aesthetic.
The trees reaching to the edges of the canvas came to symbolise my search for personal truth and the vessel shapes represent my family on this journey. The falling leaves speak to my ever present awareness of the fragility and transience of life.
There are 27 paintings in this collection (2023/2024).
| Adrift
Carrying a quiet, contemplative energy and a sense of floating between places, this painting feels untethered and peaceful. The soft colours and tones evoke the feeling of being cushioned by the landscape inviting you to rest in a liminal space where time seems to slip away along with any urgency to reach a destination. There is a delicate balance in life, where uncertainty offers a sense of freedom and in turn, freedom offers uncertainty, where letting go becomes its own kind of navigation.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original is currently available at Wentworth Galleries.
| Billabong
This piece is symbolic of the hidden parts of myself, where reflection quietly unfolds away from the noise of the world, in moments of stillness. To sit beside the billabong is to find contentment in solitude and to reconnect with oneself. This painting evokes a place that holds me emotionally; gifting me something wise, ancient, and universal. Here, life force is present, and inner strength and clarity are free to emerge as I pause and sit beside nature’s beautiful offerings.
Mixed Media on Board
50cm x 50cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Manyung Galleries.
| Carnival
Carnival merges abstraction with echoes of the Australian outback. A wild and untamed place with nature's elements laid bare in timeless glory- earth, sky and rare, precious rivers and billabongs. This painting is a vibrant celebration of nature’s enduring spirit as layers of colour and form echo across the shimmering land. This piece invites you to engage with my memories and sensations of movement, texture and light in the vibrant, living tapestry that is this remarkable country, all the while feeling freedom in the silence.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Discovery
This piece is about curiosity and transformation, borne primarily from the working process - it was one of the early pieces in the Latent Series. It’s a reminder that true discovery is less about finding answers and more about being open to possibilities. Moments when something long hidden comes into view and changes the way you see the world and yourself are precious. And being truly aware of when that happens, is even more so.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Manyung Galleries.
| Distance
This piece became about emotional space as it evolved. The journey between where I am and where I want to go is sometimes evident and tangible and at other times is less clear. Warm atmospheric layers in pink and green hues speak to the human experience of gaining perspective. This painting is a reminder that distance can sharpen ephemeral memories and distil them to their very essence, and hold them in a place where absence becomes presence.
Mixed Media on Board
30cm x 30cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Drifters
I'm a soul carried by unseen currents, neither lost nor anchored. I'm simply drifting on the tide of becoming. This painting is a contemplation on responding to the ebb and flow of energy that we experience at different times in our lives and how we gather and release pieces of ourselves as we strive to meet life with the truest version of ourselves.
Mixed Media on Board
30cm x 30cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Stevens Street Gallery.
| Flourish
This painting is a celebration of growth; the emotional kind that happens slowly, almost imperceptibly, until one day it’s undeniably evidenced. This piece speaks to the experiences that prompt a deeper exploration of personal narratives, deepen our roots, strengthen our connections to one another and ultimately show us the way to resilience so that we can truly flourish as whole and sentient beings.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
| Glow
Glow speaks to those moments in life when understanding dawns softly, not with a shout but a quiet, steady insistence. The painting hums with the quiet power of light breaking through shadow — a metaphor for clarity, acceptance, and the fragile beauty of insight. Its layers seem to mirror the human journey: the struggles, the searching, and the rare, luminous moments when everything aligns, if only for an instant. It is less about what is seen and more about what is felt — that deep, wordless knowing that light, even when fleeting, has the power to transform us.
Original - SOLD
| Hush
This is a painting that breathes gently and creates a feeling of stillness, which is something I find myself in pursuit of almost constantly. It describes a quiet pause during times of high energy, a moment where the world softens and everything feels suspended in a state of peace. It carries the beautiful weight of a mind at rest, not empty, but existing as a nurturing space of reflection and calm. In its tones and textures, there’s a sense of comfort, like the soft closing of a door on the noise of the outside world, inviting you venture inward, and simply be.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Manyung Gallery.
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| Illumination
Illumination is about those moments when you feel a shift in energy and clutter is replaced by clarity. It speaks to emotional resilience, to the courage it takes to keep reaching for light even in shadowed places. It is a reminder that, even in the most uncertain times, there is a pathway to a place of stillness and strength that waits patiently for us to happen upon it. This painting is an invitation to look inward, to find that illuminated pathway and to journey along it.
Mixed Media on Board
30cm x 30cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
Prints available on request - see below.
| Into the Shadows
This painting carries deep resonance for me as I see shadows symbolising the complexity, duality, and depth of the inner self. These unlit and unseen places of mystery speak in subtleties rather than absolutes, mirroring the quiet, often hidden parts of what it means to be human. Shadows remind us that light and darkness are inseparable — that our fears are as much a part of us, as our joy and happiness. The bold and vibrant colour palette is a reminder to embrace this chiaroscuro.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Manyung Gallery.
| Nomad
This painting speaks to my restless spirit and the ever-present desire to move, to seek, to belong nowhere and everywhere at once. It reflects my inherent need to follow invisible threads of curiosity and longing, even when I don’t yet know what I’m hoping to find. It’s also a reminder that wandering is not about being lost, but about being truly present wherever I am. Observing and responding; to landscapes, to moments in time, and to the shifting terrain of my own emotions.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Manyung Gallery.
| Offshore
Offshore explores the space where nothing stays the same for long, that point at which the sea meets the shore; a place of constant intersection, that reflects the emotional terrain of transition, where endings and beginnings coexist, and where each tide carries a sense of change. To stand at the edge of the sea is to feel both the pull of the unknown and the comfort of sand beneath my feet, a reminder that this change is but a rhythm; an ebb and flow of nature and experience, that shapes who I am becoming.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Reflections
Reflections is a contemplation on place and a memory I have of a landscape steeped in golden sunshine, where the sea sparkled in the distance and the breeze was warm.
I'm in a place that feels familiar but far away, as though it existed once in the liminal space between past and present. This painting invites you to journey with me through the echoes of a childhood memory and times long since passed, that still radiate and ripple with positive energy.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 90cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Remembering
Remembering evokes the essence of a nighttime landscape where light, color, and shape blend into a gentle visual dialogue. In the shadows, we often perceive only fragments, even though we know this conceals a more intricate and complex vision. This painting encourages you to pause, to look deeper, and to explore the notion of subtle layers of thought, memory, and emotion.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 90cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original is currently available at Wentworth Galleries.
| Rise & Fall
This piece was inspired by the amazing miracle of simply being, and existing through the gentle rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. The composition describes a space where contemplation on the wonder of existing in a body that aligns the natural cadence of life with the undulating landscape of the soul, is made possible. I find peace and stability in the patterns of everyday existence; they anchor me in the present moment whilst allowing my mind to explore unchartered terrain.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Rising Tide
Rising Tide speaks to change, like the sea gently reshaping the shoreline, it reflects subtle shifts in personal energy, emotion, and perspective. This painting explores resilience and inner strength as forces that ebb and flow, rising when needed to meet the next challenge, known or unknown, waiting beyond the horizon. Through the movement of these inner tides, I am carried closer to understanding my emotions and arriving at a more grounded, authentic perspective on my lived experience.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Manyung Gallery.
| Running Out
This painting captures the restless energy of the coastline — the pull of the tide, the constant motion, the sense that nothing stays still for long. It evokes the human experience of change and emotional transition, and stirs the awareness within me that time and circumstance are always shifting, urging us to move, adapt, and let go.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original is currently available at Wentworth Galleries.
| The Orchard
A childhood memory of a rambling and forgotten garden encircled by old apple and pear trees, surfaced in the making of this painting. It was a place to which I would retreat and wander, undisturbed. ‘The Orchard’ became a contemplation on nature's rhythms, where seasons are so visibly evident, and on the way our own emotional existence mirrors those cycles found in nature. A feeling of abundance and generosity is embedded in the work, tempered only by the scattering of autumnal leaves that speak to the passing of time as the seasons change.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
| The Picnic
This soft and gentle painting is steeped in a nostalgia, capturing the warmth of blissful moments shared under open skies. For me it holds the echo of laughter, the lush smell of summer grass, and the easy feeling of belonging. The Picnic invites you to share in the sweetness of a memory, where time felt slower and the ordinary became something magic to be treasured.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| The Rockpool
This painting evokes my childhood memories of exploring the Devonshire coastline and finding hidden worlds filled with treasure below the water’s surface in deep, still rockpools. These places existed only temporarily and were gone on the next high tide but my sense of delight in them remains as a memory, as each pool offered new discoveries. ‘The Rockpool’ became a contemplation on the way that small, hidden places can hold entire universes. And that this holds true for me too. There are places within myself, that are alive with fleeting reflections, shifting light, ripples of energy and lively treasures.
Mixed Media on Board
50cm x 50cm
Framed in Australian Oak
| Tidal Pool
Tidal Pool was inspired by chance encounters with the sea and the joy of finding, on any given day, that the ocean has left a perfect tidal swimming pool in the sand. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why these pools appear, but they feel like a special gift each and every time. This painting is about celebrating those moments in life that arrive unheralded and that are destined only to bring surprise and joy and to deepen our connection to the wonders of nature.
Mixed Media on Board
50cm x 50cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Twilight
Twilight is a response to the quiet hush at the end of the day; when the world becomes still, daylight softens into evening and space emerges to contemplate the events of the day. It’s about those moments of contemplation, where energy shifts and resettles and gratitude is given space to breathe and be noticed. I feel grounded in these moments, as I remember that endings can be a catalyst for their own kind of beginnings.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original is currently available at Wentworth Galleries.
| Sundown
Sundown is a vessel for the fading energy of the day, where the sky deepens in colour and the world begins to exhale. This painting reflects on notions of closure. What it means both in the familiarity of the everyday and in our inner world when endings come upon us.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Manyung Gallery.
| Unconfined
Unconfined is a celebration of openness and possibility, evoking a space where boundaries dissolve and movement feels fluid and effortless. It describes a place where emotional expansion is possible and the freedom to breathe deeply is tangible. It is imbued with encouragement to scatter thoughts into the wind and in return, welcome in a true sense of the unconfined self.
Mixed Media on Board
100cm x 100cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Undercurrent
Undercurrent speaks to quiet energetic forces that move beneath the surface experience of day-to-day life; unseen, yet undeniably present. Every day I feel the subtle pull of the natural rhythms that guide my daily existence and find a gentle energy in allowing these patterns to shape my days and my emotional experience. This painting describes my experience of energetic flow in contrasting colours and layered forms that mirror the complexities of emotional resonance.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original: SOLD
| Wildwood
This painting comes from my deep love of wild, unmanicured places. When I’m in these environments, I feel a sense of relief in seeing nature growing exactly as it needs to. No straight lines, no rules and no expectation to perform in a particular way. Wildwood is about this freedom and the permission to exist as I am, to grow in my own way, shaped by the ground beneath me and the forces around me. It speaks to the feeling of being in nature where I can reconnect with the truest version of myself.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
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