ARTIST

Why I paint . Where I paint. What I paint. Creating images has been something that I have done for as long as I can remember.When I was a kid it used to be called "drawing pictures". It was all about making "a nice picture". It was about pleasing myself and maybe, sometimes, pleasing someone else and it was instinctive - I didn't ask myself "why?" I depict my environment, in particular my bush environment.There are many different ways of looking at the subject .I will perform the difficult balancing act. You may be surprised at the result.
André V. Schmidt lives in the Victorian town of Mildura, on the Murray River, in an area called Sunraysia. "I can remember always being interested in creating visual images and in my early twenties decided to spend all my spare time painting. In 1994 I left my employment to concentrate all my energy on the process of picture making. I always look forward to the painting process. I embrace it and want it to embrace me. Honesty and persistence in this process seem to me to hold the answers to discovering the art that is truly mine. My experience has shown this to be true. The challenge, of course, is to keep as much of this purity as is possible while pressing into the maze which is the practical side of painting.
I regard as important the study of detail in light, colour and form because this along with spontaneity results in my most satisfying paintings. This does not necessarily produce a highly detailed work but the awareness of it makes for a better painting.
My environment is the source of all inspiration. It continually surprises me. My primary interest is in the depiction of landscape but I also enjoy figure and other genre, and painting from life is preferred. I have operated a studio/gallery, the "Mallee Art Gallery/Studio", in the Sunraysia area for over 40 years."