Tory Thomas

Perched on a bench in her art studio at Bondi, Thomas laughs as she describes her venture into full-time painting. "I packed up my Kombi, strapped my canvases to the roof and said, 'I'm off!' My friends thought I was mad - they thought they'd never see me again."

She spent two years travelling Australia having the kind of adventures that could spawn a lifetime of storytelling – or painting. As a child she'd experienced Arnhem Land with her family and says she felt a real familiarity with its people and the landscape. She made sketches galore and attempted some outdoor painting ("one still has bird poo on it," she laughs). Returning to Sydney - to the surprise of friends and family - she hit the studio and began to paint.

The result? Glorious canvases where light seems somehow trapped behind the paint, streaming in through slivers of incandescent pink and orange. Thomas's landscapes are abstract but they're much more full of life than you might expect. The colours seem borrowed from sunset or twilight rather than full daylight. They pulsate.

Now happily painting, mothering her newborn and occasionally playing African drums at Opera Bar, Thomas doesn't yearn for the big time. For her, it's about living with the natural ebbs and flows of life, soaking up the sounds of cicadas in the bush, and grooving to beats in the studio. And making paintings that live and breathe with the same energy.  "I couldn't not paint now," she says. "I'm in hook, line and sinker."

More art, art galleries and exhibitions in Sydney? Sign up to our weekly newsletter