Carol Barnwell Fine Art

19/06/2026

WARNING - CONTROVERSIAL.

What are your thoughts on art prizes? They say that entering an art prize is a good way to increase your visability. At the very least, your work will be seen by a panel of 'expert judges'. And if you make the final cut, your art will be displayed in a curated exhibition. Given the 'tick of approval' and seen by even more art collectors.

But, how do you judge art? It is so subjective. Art prizes at best are like buying a lottery ticket.

Is contemporary art all about colour (because little else can hold our attention these days) or is it more about pulling the wool over our eyes?

"You dont understand how clever/important/inovative this painting is!'

Does talent and technique count for anything? Do you simply have to daub something 'outrageous' to be recognised? Can we really reinvent the wheel indefinitely without sacrificing some of our most talented artists to decades of anonymity?

To become a reknowned artist, do you have to be notorious? A womaniser with a strong penchant for young girls (Picaso), or a sexual preditor like Gauguin who gave syphilis to his 3 Tahitian wives, or a manic depressive who cuts of his own ear (Van Gough), or an alcoholic drug addict like Whiteley who died of a overdose aged 53?

To enter the Archibald, do you have to be LGBTQI, aboriginal, a refugee or at the very least woke?

Let me introduce you to the international Almenara Art Prize. This prize gives me hope! Something to really aim for! If you reach for the stars...

In an age of raw abstracts and crude daubs of colour, it champions, hyperrealism, photorealism, contemporary realism, surrealism, imaginative realism, impressionism and plein air painting. I have been blown away by the talent on display on their instagram page.

If you love art... do yourself a favour and visit The Almenara Collection .

I am very happy to say that I have entered my recent painting 'A Close Encounter' into their 2026 competition, in the 'wildlife and animals section. Wish me luck!!!! Fingers crossed.

I was honoured when this fabulous organisation started following me on instagram. 🙂

07/06/2026

At 125cm x 94cm 'A CLOSE ENCOUNTER' makes a statement. Elephants are strong, fearless, patient and kind. They nurture their young for decades, they mourn a loss, and they never forget. What a beautiful culture to live by.

This artwork is a hyper-realistic, very close up and detailed portrait of a large bull elephant.

It was painted to invoke a powerful emotional reaction to the sheer size of these magnificent animals, so that people can strongly identify with their plight. The population of elephants world wide has declined by 60% over the last few decades, as they are poached for their ivory, lose habitat and clash with encroaching human settlements. They are an endangered species in the wild.

The close-up nature of the portrait invites the viewer to reach out and almost touch the bull elephant, while looking him in the eye. Once experienced... the feeling this invokes makes it much harder to ignore their plight.

01/05/2026

An elephants eye... so essential, to navigate through the bush and find food. So vulnerable with no hands to look after it!

What a miracle an elephants trunk is! These photos, captured by , show just how delicate and fine-tuned the tip of an elephants trunk is, as this young elephant gently removes a barbed grass seed from his eyelid.

This is why the antipoaching work done by the Bumi hills anti-poaching team is so important. Many poachers use thin wire snares to capture small game, but these can also 'capture' an elephants trunk and cause severe damage to the tip.

, art .

23/04/2026

Today, I took some time out from painting to
help work the cattle. How fast time flies, all those little calves now ready to go to new pastures to mature even more.

And that means that as the days draw in and the temperatures fall, the next calving season is just around the corner.

All the cows are looking fat and pregnant, but with more dry weather forecast, it will good to be carrying a little less stock. 🙂

19/12/2025

As many of you will know, I have been missing in action from my art. But it was all for a good cause, and so I would like to share with you a few very happy photos from this 'time out' period.

We had so many friends and family visiting from Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ireland and New Zealand, and it was so important to be 100% in the moment. 🎊❤️🥰

12/12/2025

This week, I decided to press pause on my big 'work in progress' and take some time out to paint a few Christmas cards for a group of special friends who have brought me so much fun, joy, love and companionship this year.

At Christmas time, it's always the little things that count, not the depth of our pockets. What special things are you doing this year, to make someone you really care about feel special?

27/11/2025

Did you know?....

Black Friday Art Sale is LIVE!

Today only - Friday 28th November! Save 10–20% on selected artworks in-gallery and online.
Visit us in the gallery between 9-5pm or follow the link below to shop the sale online now!

www.featherandlawrygallery.com.au/black-friday-sale

Featured artworks in post:
Centre - Springtime Celebration by Carol Barnwell - 10% off
Left - Bathed in Light by Cecily Slade - 10% off
Right - Garden Contours by Lorraine Abernethy - 10% off

18/11/2025

For those of you who like to follow my art journey, I am sharing a link to a recent interview I did for a popular international art magazine and blog called Artist Closeup. I hope that you enjoy reading about what has inspired my work thus far, and where I see the role of artists going into the future.

Carol Barnwell

18/11/2025

I have begun work on my next painting, but to really understand why I chose to paint it, you probably need to know me better as an artist. So, please bear with me, and I will tell you a few tales about the way I grew up.

I was born in Africa, and it is true that if you grow up there, the continent becomes a part of who you are. The heat and dust get into your bloodstream and never leave.

So, while you can 'take the girl out of Africa, you can never take Africa out of the girl'.

As a young woman, I loved adventures, especially if they involved close contact with Africa's beautiful wildlife. From the age of eleven, I knew I wanted to be a vet, so my favourite escape was to canoe the mighty Zambezi river, from Kariba to Kanyemba, living amongst the buffalo, elephant and hippo.

By this, I mean literally living amongst the wildlife. No fences, no moats, just elephants and lions, sometimes wandering through the camp site, and hippos calling to each other in the river, as the sun went down.

This is where my deep love for elephants began. Quietly watching the Matriarchs lead their extended families through each day was endlessly fascinating. Observing the close ties between the mothers and babies and the lonely life of the bulls, often ostracised from the herd, seemed to have so many parellels with our own world.

I was enthralled by the gentle nature of these immensely powerful animals, and the wisdom shown by the older cows, who, like humans, can live for more than 70 years.

Being a child of Africa, it was only natural that I wanted to share my passion with my children. So they have also all been camping among the elephants and canoeing down the Zambezi River. And it was, in part, this background that helped to set the scene for my next painting. 😊

09/11/2025

I had a lovely time on Friday night, catching up with friends at the opening of another beautiful exhibition at the Feather and Lawry Gallery.

If you only attend one exhibition this year... this should be the one. I love Lyne Marshal's work. It is so thought provoking, so professionally executed, and all her pieces have such a beautiful colour pallet.

Why not drop in to the gallery, and spoil yourself with an early Christmas present, or better still buy a painting for your partner. Then you can kill two birds with one stone. 🤣