_edited.jpg){kind=small}
Painting the In-Between: Reflections on Emotional Terrain in the landscapes of the Latent Series
- Charlotte Wensley
- Sep 30, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: 19 hours ago
This 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 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.
You can read more about my attachment to trees in the June edition of my Studio Diary.
There are 27 paintings in this collection.
| 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 a contemplation on the still places that exist within us — those quiet, often hidden inner parts of ourselves where we allow reflection to unfold, away from the noise of the world. Solitude and connection with self in these moments bring a sense of being held by something older and wiser than ourselves. The painting invites you into a meditation on pause and renewal, reminding us that life gathers in the stillness and like ripples on a pond, that clarity, and inner strength can manifest from the places where we choose to simply rest and listen.
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 this series. Its a reminder that true discovery is less about finding answers and more about opening to possibility, and being aware of the moment when that spark of realization happens. That moment when something long hidden stirs into view, changing the way you see the world and yourself. Its layers of green invites you to explore beyond the familiar and contemplate on what it is to be in the unknown.
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 we are and where we 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, a reminder that distance can sharpen ephemeral memories and distill them to their very essence, held in a place where absence becomes presence.
Mixed Media on Board
30cm x 30cm
Framed in Australian Oak
| 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 stages in life and how we gather and release pieces of ourselves as we go with the flow.
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 experiences that deepen our roots, strengthen our connections to one another and bring us the gift of resilience so that we may truly flourish. .
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
“Hush” is a painting that breathes stillness — a quiet pause between moments where the world softens and everything feels suspended. It carries the weight of silence, not as emptiness but as a tender 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 inward to simply be.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original painting is currently available at Manyung Gallery.
.
| 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
The original painting is available at Stevens Street Gallery.
| 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 timeless pull 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 — seeing and listening, to landscapes, to moments, 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 that 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 memory of landscape steeped in golden sunshine, where the sea sparkled and the air was warm. I'm in a place that feels familiar but far away, as though it exists in that liminal space between past and present. This painting invites you to journey through the echoes of times past.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 90cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original is currently available at Wentworth Galleries.
| Remembering
Reflections 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 evokes a sense of the delicate miracle of simply being, through the gentle rhythm of inhaling and exhaling that anchors us to the present moment. It creates a space to contemplate the wonder of existing in a body that aligns the natural cadence of life and the undulating landscape of the soul. I find peace and grace in the patterns of everyday existence.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Rising Tide
Rising Tide speaks to the inevitability of change which, just like the tide, reshapes shorelines and selves. It speaks to resilience and the human nature of finding strength to rise and meet whatever challenge is coming over the horizon, even when we cannot yet see what form it will take. With the motion of these tides, we are carried ever closer to being who we are meant to be.
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
Evoking a sense of abundance; a place where growth and patience, are rewarded with abundance, The Orchard contemplates nature's rhythms, where seasons turn and life unfolds in its own time. There’s a calm generosity in the energy offered by this piece and a reminder that there is beauty to be found in the act of tending and nurturing our emotional gardens.
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 reflects the preciousness of finding a world below the waters surface, where the depths of stillness brood with treasures waiting to be discovered. It contemplates the notion that small, hidden places can hold entire universes, even within ourselves, that are alive with shifting light, fleeting reflections, ripples and shadows. These places exist only temporarily and will be gone on the next high tide but our sense of them remains as a memory.
Mixed Media on Board
50cm x 50cm
Framed in Australian Oak
| Tidal Pool
Tidal Pool reflects on the quiet tension between motion and stillness — that fleeting moment when the ocean seems to pause and catch its breath. It’s a space where clarity gathers in the soft ripples before the inevitable ebb begins, a reminder of the rhythms that shape both sea and self. The painting speaks to trusting in the constancy of motion, in the cycles that repeat with a familiar inevitability, offering a quiet assurance that what leaves will always return.
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 stillness descends, light softens and edges begin to blur. It invites contemplation on the moment that's no longer day but not yet night and reflection comes naturally. There is much beauty in the transience of these moments and a reminder that endings can hold 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; a space where boundaries dissolve and movement feels effortless. It carries the energy of freedom, of stepping beyond what is known and journeying towards the limitless horizon. This painting invites reflection on the notion of emotional expansion, and encouragement to welcome in the truest sense of self.
Mixed Media on Board
100cm x 100cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
| Undercurrent
Undercurrent speaks to the quiet forces that move beneath the surface — unseen, yet undeniably present. This painting holds a sense of tension and flow, where contrasting colours and layered forms mirror the complexities of emotional change. It invites you to pause and feel the subtle pull of what lies beneath, that quiet energy guiding the rhythms of self.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
The original is currently available at Wentworth Galleries.
| Wildwood
This painting is an ode to untamed beauty, where the landscape hums with the quiet magic of places untouched by time. Trees twist and reach as though in conversation with the earth, which feels alive with memory and possibility. This painting invites you to wander through its depths, to lose yourself in its wildness, reach out and catch the falling leaves and to remember what it feels like to be part of something larger and ancient.
Mixed Media on Board
60cm x 60cm
Framed in Australian Oak
Original - SOLD
For more information about work on consignment to galleries download the catalogue below, browse available original paintings in our Shop and check out our range of beautiful reproduction prints.
*Free shipping on all original paintings within Australia
| Join my art community
Don't forget to join my Studio Diary mailing list to get my monthly newsletter delivered straight to your inbox and your free PDF copies of my
Top 10 Tips - COLLAGE BASICS
Top 10 Tips - GELLI BASICS
Top 10 Tips - MEDIUMS and GELS
Follow the link to get your copies today!
#contemporaryabstractart #charlottewensleyart #abstractart #artvideo #artprocessvideo #abstractartprocess #australianart #contemporaryart #modernabstractart #modernart #charlottewensley #artblog #abstractartblog #artblogs #gelliprinting #gelliprint #artmakingvideo #artvideo #artmaking #newabstractart #abstractpaintings #gelliprintcollage #abstractartist #abstractartblog #mixedmediaart #mixedmedia #mixedmediaabstract #abstractmixedmedia #mixedmediaartist #mixedmediavideo #collageart #collage #modernabstracts #sketching #australianartist #artforinteriors #artistsvlog #abstractpainting #colouranddesign #originalabstractart #buyoriginalart #buyabstractart #artinnoosa #queenslandartists #noosaartist #australianartists #australianart #brisbaneartist #brisbaneart #melbourneart #artgalleries #artprints #surfacedesign #productdesign #homedecor #wallart #framedartprints #artprintoncanvas
