Jill McKenzie

About Jill McKenzie

The paintings of Jill McKenzie are typically vibrant using the full range of colours available in her preferred dry pastel medium. Her definitive style has struck a chord with art enthusiasts in Victoria, South Australia and overseas including visitors to the Canterbury Art Exhibition.

As a native of Loxton in South Australia's Riverland, Jill grew to love the evocative landscape of red soil, saltbush, gnarled gums and deep blue skies of the Northern Mallee. The River Murray was also an early inspiration in her formative years as an artist. After studying ceramics at the South Australian College Of Art, the call of outback Australia took her to the station country of northern South Australia, Western NSW, and Queensland as a governess and jillaroo. Eventually, returning to Adelaide, Jill worked with pencil drawings and acrylic - drawing on her experience of the harsh terrain of the inland.

Since moving to Melbourne in the mid 1990's she has become an enthusiast of pastel painting, and a founding member of Balwyn's "Harlequin Pastellists". Like her past experiences of the Outback, the wild beauty of the seascapes and coastal dunes of Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, the Great Ocean Road, and South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula (where she returns often) are now a major source of inspiration.