Steven Vella | Artist | Lennox Street Studios, Newtown, Sydney | Two Million Degrees
Steven Vella | Artist | Lennox Street Studios, Newtown, Sydney | Other Worlds 4
Steven Vella | Artist | Lennox Street Studios, Newtown, Sydney | Continuum II
Steven Vella | Artist | Lennox Street Studios, Newtown, Sydney | Vortex
Steven Vella | Artist | Lennox Street Studios, Newtown, Sydney | Darkness Descending
Steven Vella | Artist | Lennox Street Studios, Newtown, Sydney | Other Worlds 3
Steven Vella | Artist | Lennox Street Studios, Newtown, Sydney | Toxic
Steven Vella | Artist | Lennox Street Studios, Newtown, Sydney | 100000 Light Years
Paintings

I paint with shellac, dyes and stains on gold and silver leaf. Applying the metal leaf is laborious and time consuming.

Painting the shellac is both exciting and apprehensive as shellac can be temperamental, sometimes with unexpected results as consistency, colour and texture change as drying occurs. The results have a dramatic richness of depth and luminosity that react to changes in light, an almost iridescent effect.
The inspiration is sky and space. For me there is a mesmerising and profound beauty in such natural phenomena, something unreachable, intangible and mysterious. It may be a fleeting moment of passing clouds or the explosive birth of a star, billions of light years away.

I am not trying to re-create but capture an essence. I invite the viewer to look into the painting and to interpret as they wish.