Cameilia Grace Edwards

What were some of your early creative influences?

Growing up I always knew my dad was creative and could paint really well. He had some of his paintings hanging up in the back shed and the level of detail was amazing. He has always been able to draw things from his mind, so whenever we needed something sketched up, he was the one we went to.

What led you to pursue painting as a career?

I didn’t do art in high school. I was always daunted by the theory side of it, so I was more interested in maths and physics. However, I have always been drawn to creative outlets from as far back as when I was at university and the early years of my working life.

As much as I dabbled over the years, I didn’t decide to properly pursue painting until 2020 when a friend and I discovered our mutual love of it and decided to get together once a fortnight to have some cocktails and see what we could create. For the first time since having my children (Harvey and Emerson) I challenged myself to paint something detailed.

I had never painted realistically, but I somehow always had this feeling that I could do it if I tried. So I set out to paint a portrait of a boy and a horse and I entered it in a local art show (Inverell Art Prize). I was awarded the Inverell Shire Council Acquisition Prize and the piece gained traction online through local ABC news articles and went viral (first and only time that this has happened with one of my paintings!).

How did you develop your approach to painting?

Starting out as a commission artist and having the mindset of saying ‘yes’. While challenging, this pushed me into different styles and helped me to work out the areas I was naturally good at and what I enjoyed the most. I think it also helped me to really ‘see’ things – to stop making assumptions about what I thought certain colours or shapes should be, but instead see what they actually were when I took a deeper look.

Can you identify a moment of creative breakthrough?

I had this ongoing feeling that I wanted to paint with a blurred background, to take advantage of my love for blending paint, and to have only a small amount of the image in focus in the foreground. It was on a very routine trip to the dog park one day that I saw a dandelion in a single ray of sunshine. My brother happened to be home at the time and had his fancy new camera on him. After some convincing to let me use the camera, I snapped a photo of the dandelion which became the reference photo for my piece One Thing at a Time and the beginning of the style I am still embracing today. 

Could you tell us about your relationship to the landscapes that appear in your work?

I am mostly drawn to areas that are ‘just off’ to the normal path of life. The wildflowers that are on the edge of the highway, the weeds that are just off to the side of the bush track, or the reeds and grasses on the edge of the river. My eye is constantly drawn to these areas that are often overlooked and unnoticed, scanning to see if I can uncover something beautiful and shine a light on it. Viewing these landscapes at sunset is when the magic really happens. 

Could you take us through your creative process?

Capturing my reference photos is the most unpredictable part of my process. If the weather is right (very rare), I set out at sunset and I have a few local areas that I frequent the most. Then it comes down to a bit of luck. I need the sun to be striking the subject in just the right way. It’s not guaranteed that I will be successful with taking a usable reference photo when I set out on these little expeditions, but I instantly know when I have captured something magical.

Once I have a reference photo that I am in love with, I need to work out what scale and composition to use. I usually sit with the image for a few weeks or sometimes months before I am ready to dive into the painting.

Once in the studio, I start with a layer of acrylic in a golden yellow. I have found that this base helps to enhance the ‘golden hour’ feel of my paintings. I then add a basic grid on the canvas so I know that the proportions will be correct and it saves a lot of changes along the way. Layers of oil paint are then built up to form the soft focus background. This stage is the most challenging and time consuming and tests my patience. Once the background is complete, the fun begins with the details being added to the foreground and bringing the whole painting together. 

“I just love finding beauty in native flora that would often be described as a weed and something easily bypassed. When the sun is setting and it lands on these little natural beauties, they come to life and it is as if they transform into something completely different.”

Given that your painting process begins with photography, how do you see the relationship between these two mediums within your practice?

I love the play of light that lens flare adds to a reference photo. I don’t capture it in every photo, but when I do, I love the extra layer it brings to the painted composition. I also cheekily enjoy the initial moment when someone views my work and questions if they are photos or paintings. I love being able to take my own reference photos. While it is frustrating at times, I think over time it’s made me more aware of just how fleeting these moments of pure magic are, and I am much more grateful for each winning shot.

Could you tell us about your experience entering and being selected for the National Emerging Art Prize?

It was a massive turning point for me. For years, I felt like I had been waiting for my chance. For a gallery to see my work and say ‘I see something here, let’s give her a shot’. When I attended the opening night of NEAP 2024 and was able to see other people’s reactions to my painting, it became clear that this style was something special, and it gave me the drive to keep developing it.

The National Emerging Art Prize was the start of that for me because it then led to my first show with Michael Reid Southern Highlands in 2025. 

What was the starting point for your debut series Echoes of Light and how did this body of work develop?

The Echoes of Light collection evolved from the piece One Thing at a Time. I was excited to develop a whole collection in this style. I set out with the intent of wanting each piece to be unique and tell its own story, but for the whole collection to work in unison. And as with all of my paintings, it is very important for the sunlight element to feature in each piece to create that ever-striking glow that pulls you in.

Could you tell us about your most recent series, Chasing the Light?

Chasing the Light was my biggest collection to date. It was a chance to experiment within the style, both in terms of canvas size, and also subject matter. The title for the collection came from me literally ‘chasing the light’ all over the place at sunset in search of inspiration and magical reference photos. It was a turning point for me to really dive into the whole process, from start to finish, reference photo through to painting and then through to the exhibition. I learnt a lot about which areas I have my strengths and which areas still need more time and development. I learnt that I absolutely love the process of creating work for an exhibition and love seeing the collection come to life.

What other projects are you looking forward to working on now?

I feel so grateful to have found ‘my style’ after many years of worrying that I never would. It feels very exciting and hopeful to know that I have a nearly endless amount of inspiration out in the world and I just need to keep exploring with my camera and waiting to stumble onto some more magic. 

I am looking forward to pushing myself to create larger works, which is not such an easy task when you see the size of my paint brushes!

For now, I am just so grateful that I am able to spend my days creating paintings that are really resonating with people. In a crazy world, I do not take lightly the fact that I am able to inject some calm and peace into people’s lives.