About Cameron Brooke

Painting becomes a form of transmission — not of what was seen, but of what was felt. 

The landscapes that persistently appear in my work — biodiverse, shifting terrains often described as stone country — are not accidental. They are threshold places: ecological and energetic crossroads where biomes, histories, and stories converge. Across cultures and millennia, humans have been drawn to these edges — between forest and desert, mountain and plain, salt and fresh water. Rich in life and meaning, they have long been regarded as “thin places,” where the veil between worlds wears thin, where ancestors feel near, where memory and presence press forward. These places demand attention, just as the paintings do. My practice is a form of contemporary dreaming — not about representing landscape, but about entering into relationship with it. I work without a blueprint. Oils are squeezed directly from the tube and swept by hand, rag, or brush in large, gestural movements. It is a whole-body process: immediate, instinctive, and responsive. This is not abstraction for abstraction’s sake, but an effort to touch something too complex, too sacred, to be pinned down. 

The surface of the canvas becomes a site of encounter.

I know a painting has found its footing when something unexpected emerges — when a form or force announces itself, like a telescope locking onto a distant star. At that moment the pace shifts. What has appeared must be held carefully, respected, and allowed to breathe. The act of painting becomes one of tending rather than forcing. After years of working this way, a deep trust has formed. The work will reveal itself — if I get out of the way. Like meditation, it is a discipline of surrender. This is not a style, but a way of being with the land: stepping back, listening closely, and allowing place to lead.

This is not a style,
but a way of being with the land. 

I paint without audience or agenda. The works are acts of reverence rather than representation — quiet invitations to listen, to feel, and to remember the old conversation between land and body. These paintings are not about landscape. They are about being with it. Being claimed by it. Letting it speak. I am based in southern Tasmania and also paint and exhibit in East Arnhem Land, where I continue to deepen my relationship with Country and its many voices. 

— Cameron Brooke