“There’s a rhythm of magnificence throughout us, the interaction of sunshine and shadows. Collectively they work in concord. With out gentle there aren’t any shadows and it’s within the very presence of shadows that we grow to be conscious of the sunshine.”
Lorraine Pichugin
The place Gentle Finds Its Shadow
Lorraine Pichugin’s apply begins with one thing easy however more and more tough: the willingness to cease and really look. Throughout oil portray, drawing, pastel and charcoal, she watches gentle transfer by way of unusual areas and notices the shadows that give these areas depth, ambiance and emotional presence. A wall, a kitchen bench, a face or a panorama can abruptly grow to be extraordinary when the sunshine modifications. For Lorraine, these moments usually are not merely visually lovely. They provide stillness, hope and a way of peace that she desires to share with the individuals who encounter her work.
That need has deep roots. Lorraine describes herself, amongst different issues, as a spouse, mom, grandmother, sister, aunt, pal, most cancers survivor and artist. Every position arrived at a unique level in her life, however artwork has at all times been there. As a baby, she stuffed schoolbooks with vibrant illustrations and located consolation in creating, significantly throughout a tough childhood when quiet locations and drawing supplied a type of refuge. Artwork was by no means one thing she consciously determined to pursue. It was merely a part of who she was, and he or she believes she would proceed portray and drawing even when she by no means offered one other work.
Current analysis into her household historical past gave that lifelong intuition an sudden historic context. Her maternal ancestry consists of Henry Bone RA, the celebrated miniature painter who labored below British royal patronage, and Elizabeth Van der Meulen, a direct descendant of Flemish painter Adam Frans Van der Meulen, recognized for his service to Louis XIV. The exacting element in each artists’ work resonates with the way in which Lorraine instinctively paints and attracts, whereas the ambiance of Van der Meulen’s battle scenes significantly speaks to her personal concern with temper and authenticity. Discovering them gave her confidence and a heritage to aspire to, though she readily admits that having such completed artists within the household tree will also be intimidating.
That pressure ultimately helped Lorraine embrace an concept that now shapes each her artwork and her life: progress over perfection. Earlier in her profession, she might be unforgiving with herself when enchancment appeared too gradual or when the outcomes didn’t meet the typically unimaginable requirements she had set. Right this moment, she sees even the smallest step ahead as significant. Perfection, to her, is an phantasm, whereas studying can proceed for a lifetime.
Her expertise with breast most cancers deepened that perception in authenticity. It taught her that there’s worth in being trustworthy concerning the tough components of life slightly than hiding them. Shadows are unavoidable, however sharing sorrow can create moments of recognition, the reassurance of listening to “me too” or “I perceive.” Lorraine’s work develop from that understanding. They’re peaceable, however not as a result of they fake darkness doesn’t exist. Their hope comes from the other concept: if there’s a shadow, there should even be a supply of sunshine.
Lorraine: Portray the On a regular basis as Presence
Oil is now Lorraine’s major medium, though colored pencil, charcoal and pastel stay essential to her. Largely self-taught, she has developed her apply by way of intuition, sustained statement and an ongoing need to grasp the strategies of the Outdated Masters. Over time, she attended occasional weekend workshops in several mediums, however an essential turning level got here greater than twenty years in the past when she took a six-week night course in Brisbane with up to date realist painter Marcel Desbiens. His classical strategy to constructing oil work in layers launched Lorraine to a medium with which she shortly fell in love, despite the fact that it will take years earlier than she felt assured sufficient to work predominantly in oils.
A transfer throughout Australia to Perth quickly positioned these classes on maintain. A number of years later, Lorraine left her place as an assistant supervisor of a buying centre and enrolled in High quality Artwork and Visible Tradition at Curtin College as a mature-age pupil. Throughout her research, she turned more and more annoyed by the quick-drying nature of acrylic paint, which resisted the gradual mixing and prolonged working time she instinctively needed. She ultimately took a yr away from college to focus on commissioned work and develop her relationship with acrylics. The deliberate yr turned a everlasting departure from the course, with out remorse, and helped make clear that oils had been the medium finest suited to the way in which she needed to color.
She is drawn to supplies that may be labored slowly and blended with sensitivity. The buttery high quality of oil paint permits her to push and pull color till the transition between brightness, half tone and shadow feels virtually seamless. Her work typically take many months to finish, regularly accumulating layers of color that give the work depth, solidity and presence. This layered strategy, knowledgeable by her curiosity in classical realism, has grow to be central to the technical language of her work.
Lorraine sees a pure connection between this layered course of and life itself. Layers can convey magnificence, complexity and typically darkness, however collectively they create kind. That parallel sits quietly beneath a lot of her realism. Technical accuracy issues, but realism shouldn’t be the ultimate goal. What pursuits her is the potential of capturing these transient moments when one thing unusual stirs an emotional response, when magnificence seems unexpectedly and asks to be observed.
Her sensitivity to gentle has additionally been formed by place. Born in a rustic city in South Australia, Lorraine has lived in 4 Australian states and has grow to be conscious about the way in which geography and local weather alter the character of sunshine. Within the tropical north, humidity softens and diffuses it. Within the south and west, the place she now lives, summer season can convey an intense, virtually blinding readability. Journey by way of Europe, Russia and China expanded that consciousness additional, revealing how gentle can set up ambiance, drama and the emotional temperature of a scene.
For that purpose, Lorraine doesn’t take into account herself merely a nonetheless life painter. Objects might seem in her compositions, however they’re typically autos for one thing much less tangible. Morning or night shadows transferring throughout a wall or kitchen bench can cease her in her tracks. The article caught inside that passing gentle turns into half of a bigger trade between illumination and darkness.
These are the moments she describes as nonetheless, but energetic, moments lovely sufficient to make her catch her breath. She desires the viewer to expertise one thing of that very same feeling. In a world of gadgets, relentless media and fixed distraction, her work provide an invite to avert the gaze from the noise for a second and uncover what stays. The shadows are nonetheless current, however so is the sunshine. For Lorraine, that recognition can convey hope, calm and peace, and reveal magnificence within the on a regular basis which may in any other case have gone unseen.
Flight, Stillness, and the Human Have to Look Up
That mixture of statement, surprise and that means comes into explicit focus in Flight Daydreams, a 50 by 70 centimetre work made with tinted charcoals on Canson paper. The thought grew from Lorraine’s fascination with humanity’s enduring need to grow to be airborne. Regardless of all the things individuals have invented to take themselves into the sky, she stays captivated by the easy grace of birds in flight and, in her personal understanding, the wonder bestowed upon them by their Creator.
Lorraine constructed the scene herself, utilizing the sunshine coming by way of her former Seventies-style kitchen window and making the paper airplane that seems within the composition. She intentionally ignored typical compositional guidelines when positioning the airplane and the birds, hoping the connection between the 2 would encourage viewers to think about human invention alongside pure flight.
The work has since obtained a number of awards, together with first prize in its class for drawing, including exterior recognition to a bit that already held appreciable private significance for Lorraine.
She documented the work’s growth on Instagram, however as soon as it was completed she discovered she couldn’t half with it. Regardless of receiving a number of gives from collectors, Flight Daydreams stays along with her and now hangs in her workplace. It’s a type of works wherein course of, reminiscence and that means have grow to be inseparable, carrying with it the sunshine of that exact room, the handmade paper airplane and the thought that first set the drawing in movement.
Household is equally central to Lorraine’s life and apply. She describes hers as a beautiful assortment of personalities whose members help each other by way of failures in addition to successes. Their encouragement was instrumental in giving her the arrogance to pursue artwork professionally. With out it, she says she would have been fairly completely happy merely pottering in her studio, making work for herself, her household and her buddies.
Her husband additionally created the studio she now describes as her sanctuary, changing a storage of their again backyard right into a spacious workspace with a pitched ceiling, air con and all the things wanted for lengthy days of portray. It overlooks a lillypilly tree the place native birds collect. After an early studio improvised from a brush cabinet beside the laundry, the house feels positively luxurious to her. Extra importantly, it’s a place wherein she will be able to grow to be quiet sufficient to note, assume and make.
Lorraine: Constructing a Follow Round Quiet
Lorraine typically retains Monday to Friday studio hours, though artwork and private life have at all times felt naturally intertwined. The construction turns into helpful when commissions and deadlines accumulate, however motivation itself has hardly ever been an issue. Making artwork is just too deeply embedded in her life for that.
She is at present constructing a brand new physique of labor for an additional solo exhibition, whereas holding onto a bigger dream: making a site-specific group of works for a spot the place the work may convey peace and calm to the individuals utilizing that surroundings. She doesn’t but know precisely what kind such a venture will take, however its goal is evident. Lorraine desires her artwork to do greater than occupy a wall. She hopes it could provide one other individual a second of the stillness she herself discovers whereas trying carefully on the world.
Over roughly the previous twelve years, that dedication has introduced growing skilled recognition. Lorraine’s work has obtained quite a few awards so far and has appeared in publications together with Artwork/Edit + Inside Design, Self-importance Truthful, Home & Backyard UK and the French up to date artwork journal Highlight. She has additionally been juried in as a Skilled Member of the Worldwide Guild of Realism and included in its annual realism exhibitions. In early 2026, she was invited to use to Masters of Realism, a global initiative primarily based within the Netherlands. Following overview by its balloting committee, she was accepted and awarded the title Grasp of Realism, becoming a member of artists together with Kees Blom, Svetlana Cameron and Henk Helmantel, whose work and life have been a very essential inspiration.
Recognition, nonetheless, has not altered Lorraine’s dedication to remaining a pupil of her craft. She values the extraordinary quantity of instruction and inspiration now accessible by way of social media, whereas believing that actual inventive development comes by way of creating one’s personal voice with authenticity and integrity. The aim shouldn’t be perfection, however continued progress and the liberty to permit her personal experiences, observations and values to emerge by way of the work.
That can also be why quiet issues a lot. In a world the place chaos can appear to shout from each path, Lorraine sees stillness as a approach of listening to extra clearly what she desires to say. Gentle and shadow give her the visible language for that message, however the purpose for portray reaches past the objects depicted. She paints within the hope of sharing with others the peace and calm she finds in unusual moments, providing viewers and collectors a contact of magnificence amid the noise and chaos of the world. Maybe, too, her work can remind somebody dealing with their very own shadows that darkness is rarely the entire image. For Lorraine, each shadow quietly declares the presence of sunshine.
