National Art School in Sydney was a huge change for this 17-year-old girl from Gleniffer – but Waugh relished the opportunity.

“I was like a sponge, absorbing everything. People talk about art school now and how they don’t learn how to draw or paint. My experience was the total opposite – I learnt the fundamentals of drawing and painting. 

“I had incredible teachers. The one who I think taught me the most about how to draw was David Serisier, an abstract painter from the New York school. There was also Euan Macleod, Wendy Sharpe, Aida Tomescu, Noel McKenna, Susan Archer, David Fairbairn – I learnt from so many amazing artists. It was a really cool time to be at art school.”

Despite Waugh’s love of art and the successful completion of her degree, “I still didn’t think I could do it commercially”. So after graduation she found a job with Parkers Art Supplies in The Rocks – and she worked there for about a decade.

“It was a great education, getting to know the materials and also other artists.”

In 2007 and 2008 Waugh completed a Master of Arts degree at the College of Fine Arts “and then I went totally AWOL. A friend invited me to go and work with her and her husband on a super yacht in The Caribbean. I decided I had to grab the opportunity and had an amazing time in a very beautiful part of the world.”

When she returned to Australia, Waugh successfully applied for an Artist in Residence program sponsored by the law firm Curwoods. This included free studio space in Sydney’s Australia Square and her exhibition at the end of the residency, titled Island, sold out.

Waugh continued to paint after the Curwoods residency, but she decided to become an art teacher to provide a regular source of income. She taught high school students during the day and adults in the evenings. She found a better studio in Summer Hill and began posting images of her work on Instagram. These paintings caught the eye of Amber Creswell Bell, Michael Reid’s Director, Emerging Art and Waugh was invited to participate in several group exhibitions. She also had a solo exhibition at Robin Gibson Gallery in Darlinghurst.

Her increasing success as an artist meant Waugh needed to consider her career options more closely.

“I was still teaching full time and I felt I wasn’t giving a full go to either teaching or painting. I had to make a decision, to choose either teaching or painting. And then COVID happened. 

“My mother passed away, not from COVID, but it was a horrible year and a really emotional time. I decided that life was too short, that I had to do this, I had to paint. Mum and dad had always supported me and told me to chase my dreams.”

Full circle

Waugh’s father had died a decade earlier, so after her mother’s passing she and her sister inherited the family property at Gleniffer. Waugh decided not only to focus on art full time but to move to her childhood home.

“My husband can work remotely so we moved back to the house and property I grew up in. Dad liked tennis and he spent hours each week maintaining a grass tennis court. He also built a tennis shed to keep all the tennis equipment in and we turned that shed into my studio.”

Being able to paint full time was a blessing.

“When I paint every day, my style is so much freer and looser. My brush strokes are more confident. I love that expressionistic style.” 

When she was at Art School, Waugh was most influenced by abstract artists such as Elisabeth Cummings and Ann Thomson “because that was what we were fed and I drank that Kool Aid. Also early Mondrian. Then I became interested in the Expressionists and Edvard Munch is probably my favourite painter. When I left Art School I was really into Figurative artists like Edward Hopper and David Hockney.”

Today she describes herself as an Expressionist landscape painter who works exclusively in oils.

Waugh was invited to present a solo exhibition, Beauty & Danger, at Michael Reid Northern Beaches in December 2021. The sell out success of this show led to her being selected to hold another solo show, Moonlight Studies, to open the new Michael Reid Southern Highlands gallery in March 2022. This was followed by The Stars Look Very Different Today at Michael Reid Murrurundi in July 2022 and Soft Summer at Michael Reid Northern Beaches in April 2024. During these years, Waugh also participated in a number of group shows and was part of the Michael Reid presence at the 2022 Sydney Contemporary Art Fair.

Just over a year ago, in March 2024, Waugh gave birth to her son Phoenix.

“It has changed my practice so much. I can’t believe I had all the time in the world before he came along and now I have to really hone in on the time I have. It makes me more efficient with my time in the studio. It’s a juggling act and my husband, Dan, has been amazing. When he finishes work at 5 o’clock, I hand Phoenix over and work in my studio until late. And I’ll often get up early and work before Dan starts at nine. I also do a lot of work in the studio on weekends.”

Apart from time, has the arrival of Phoenix had any other impact on her painting?

“I think my palette is a bit softer and a friend told me that she thinks my painting as whole is softer. I certainly didn’t mean to do that.”

High Country

Waugh’s current exhibition at Michael Reid Southern Highlands is titled High Country.

“I like painting places that are familiar to me or special to me – places where I go to breathe. This time I have gone inland to a National Park called Cathedral Rock. It’s a beautiful landscape with volcanic rock that is two million years old. There are incredible compositions and shapes, like rock sculptures.

“I would like the audience to feel immersed in these paintings. Hopefully I’ve succeeded in doing this by not painting them from a vantage point in the distance but rather from right inside the landscape. I’m hoping the energy of the area is shown in the brush strokes.

“The end game for me is to use as few brush strokes as possible to create the scene.”

Waugh has achieved a huge amount in the four years since deciding to dedicate herself to art full time. This includes three solo shows in the past year since giving birth to Phoenix. Despite these achievements, and while she believes she is heading in the right direction with her practice, she feels the need to make up for lost time. She is driven to do more and “give it a red hot go”. Her future aims include working in a larger scale and travelling more widely in Australia.

“There are just so many landscapes to paint – we are truly spoilt for choices here.”