Saturday, December 27, 2014

Red Rocks Gorge

Red Rocks Gorge 26-12-14: Annika Romeyn, watercolour, 2014, 18 x 25 cm

I hope you are all having a joyous festive season and I wish you all the best for a happy and productive 2015! After a lovely relaxing Christmas with family, my parents accompanied me on a Boxing Day painting excursion to Red Rocks Gorge (Murrumbidgee River), one of my favourite places close to home (Canberra, Australia). It was a brilliant sunny day after a string of summer thunder-storms. It was a great challenge painting the strong sunlight moving across the faceted rock and reflecting up from rippling water below. I love sitting and drawing while listening to the rushing sound of nearby rapids, which remind me of the forces of movement and erosion that are slowly, but constantly carving and shaping the landscape.






Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Bittangabee Bay & Green Cape

Bittangabee Bay Rocks 29-11-14: Annika Romeyn, watercolour, 2014, 18 x 25 cm

Bittangabee Bay Rocks 30-11-14: Annika Romeyn, watercolour, 2014, 18 x 25 cm

Stormy morning near Green Cape lighthouse
appreciating powerful water and strange eroded rock...




photo: Victor Wilson Wang
 free-diving newbies ready to explore hidden depths

little treasures

view from our beautiful campsite - looking down on Bittangabee Bay

photo: Victor Wilson Wang
UWR! Canberra Underwater Rugby team human sculpture featuring some of my cheerful & creative companions from a fun and inspiring free-diving/camping trip in Ben Boyd National Park

Monday, December 1, 2014

'COMMON GROUND' & 'M16 DRAWING PRIZE'

I'm happy to be part of a couple of exhibitions opening in Canberra this week: Common Ground - an A.N.C.A. studio artists exhibition (opening wednesday 6pm) and the M16 Drawing Prize  (opening friday 6pm). Both promise to be diverse, exciting exhibitions and I am especially looking forward to exhibiting alongside my Dad, Arjen Romeyn, in the M16 Drawing Prize. See below for more details and images of my work that will be on display.

Opening Fri Dec 5th 6pm, continuing until Dec 19th 
M16 Artspace, 21 Blaxland Cres, Griffith, ACT
opening hours: Wed-Fri 12-5pm

Annika Romeyn, Tasmania Sketchbook, 2014, Ink and watercolour in Moleskine Sketchbook, 9 x 14 cm

Annika Romeyn &  Emilie Patteson, Incineration (Double Vision), 2014, lithograph, 56 x 76 cm


opening Wed Dec 3rd 6pm, continuing until Dec 14th
Australian National Capital Artists, 1 Rosevear Pl, Dickson, ACT
opening hours: Wed-Sun 12-5pm

Annika Romeyn, Mushrooms, 2014, lithograph with chin colle, 34.5 x 43cm

Friday, November 14, 2014

Journey to Gippsland - "Luminous Earth" acquired by Gippsland Art Gallery

I am very pleased that my watercolour "Luminous Earth" (currently on display in the John Leslie Art Prize) has found a fantastic home as part of the permanent collection at Gippsland Art Gallery. I was fortunate to have a few days and a willing companion (thanks Dad!) to turn the 6hr pilgrimage to the gallery into a scenic road-trip :) It was a pleasure to meet Curator Simon Gregg who wrote a great catalogue essay for the exhibition (currently available for download here) and to find out more about the gallery's program and collection. Most rewarding was seeing the broad variety of approaches to landscape painting on exhibit and being able to engage with the surface, scale and impact of each work in person.

L-R: Shannon Smiley (winner 2014 John Leslie Art Prize), Jason Cordero, Annika Romeyn, Frank Mesaric

L-R: Jason Cordero, Annika Romeyn, Frank Mesaric, Dale Cox, Stephen Haley


On the way to Sale we stopped at Buchan Caves and took a tour through Fairy Cave and Royal Cave, which were full of fascinating limestone formations.



Moving on from Sale we enjoyed the hospitality of a wonderful colleague in Nungurner and took an afternoon wander through her lush, sprawling property.


On the way back to Canberra we camped at Croajingolong to spend a little time exploring and sketching. We spent an evening relaxing on the lichen covered coastal rocks and a morning taking in the incredible giant sand dunes near Thurra River. 


Croajingolong Boulders: Annika Romeyn, watercolour, 2014, 18 x 25 cm



Croajingolong Dunes: Annika Romeyn, watercolour, 2014, 18 x 25 cm


Friday, August 22, 2014

John Leslie Art Prize

I am excited to have been selected as a finalist in the John Leslie Art Prize, one of Australia's major prizes for landscape painting. My watercolour Luminous Earth will be on display in what should be a fascinating exhibition at the Gippsland Art Gallery from 20th September - 23rd November.

Luminous Earth, watercolour on stretched paper, 150 x 100cm, 2013 (photo by Dean Butters)

Friday, August 15, 2014

Dr Sketchy's @ National Gallery of Australia for "Stars of the Tokyo Stage" Exhibition (9th Aug 2014)












FLG Representation + Taiwan Opening + Megalo Etching Class


I am happy to have recently signed on with Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne. I look forward to exhibiting and working with FLG (beginning with a solo exhibit in March 2015) and am particularly excited to see my work alongside the dynamic and diverse group of artists that make up their gallery stable (including my dear friend and inspiration Hannah Quinlivan)! You can get a great overview of FLG's artists at the current Melbourne Art Fair where their exhibition is broken into 2 spaces The Light Side and The Dark Side.


Although I'm not able to attend the opening in Taiwan tomorrow afternoon, it's nice to know that my lithograph Ravine will be on display for a whole new audience and alongside some amazing company, including silver prize winner Tomiyuki Sakuta who I had the pleasure of meeting during his recent residency at Megalo Print Studio, Canberra.

Speaking of Megalo... why not check out the current class program and have a go at printmaking?! I'm looking forward to teaching a weekend of etching - a medium that offers a great variety of possibilities from fine lines to expressive textures and rich gradations of tone.


ETCHING with Annika Romeyn 
18 & 25 October (2 x Saturdays) 10-4pm
cost member: $260, non-member: $315, concession: $293
learn the basics of intaglio printing or refine your skills exploring such techniques as soft ground, aquatint and drypoint


Contact Megalo to book your place:
21 Wentworth Avenue Kingston
PO Box 5449 Kingston ACT 2604
t: (02) 6232 6041
e: info@megalo.org
w: www.megalo.org
Tues - Sat 9.30am - 5.00pm

a recent experiment with one of the many etching techniques: 'white-ground' (an imperfect acid-resist that results in fantastic organic and expressive marks and textures)

Thursday, July 17, 2014

GLINT Exhibit & Articles

After a big learning curve, creating new partnerships and working across new mediums during an intense 2 month project, we are very proud of our group exhibition GLINT currently on display at The Canberra Glassworks (continuing until August 3rd). The exhibition has been well received so far! Read all about it and see some more images in these recent articles:


(review also featured in the Canberra Times on 17-7-14)



Canberra Times Article (part 1) 17-7-14

Canberra Times Article (part 2) 17-7-14

Canberra City News 5-6-14

Mushrooms, Emilie Patteson and Annika Romeyn, hot sculpted glass with mushroom and copper inclusions, 2014 (installed in the smokestack, Canberra Glassworks)

Mushrooms (detail), Emilie Patteson and Annika Romeyn, hot sculpted glass with mushroom and copper inclusions, 2014, (installed in the smokestack, Canberra Glassworks)

Collaborative drawing on lithographic stone: Incineration (Double Vision) by Emilie Patteson & Annika Romeyn - see the finished print (edition of 12) and much more in the exhibition on display until August 3rd!