Welcoming Jessie Hartwig-Boutkan of Farbe Studio in our latest TGD Friends Q+A!

hello! welcome to the TGD friends series! can you tell us what it is you create?

I am a painter, I predominately use acrylic paint on canvas and release my work in small series.

how would you describe your style?

I’m a figurative painter, my subject changes often but right now I am painting lots of figures and horses. I use big, organic paint strokes and have a strong and deliberate palette. My canvases aren’t busy so what is on there has to be composed well and I love playing with composition to create interesting figures and empty space. I am influenced by Australian mid-century colours and design as well as bush poetry and folk music. Most of my pieces we frame in solid timber, the beautiful tones of walnut and oak are a big part of the final piece - they are made by my partner too, so that’s a bonus!

share with us a bit about your journey and how you got started.

I was obsessed with charcoal drawing when I was a kid and was always drawing landscapes, fishermen, boats etc. My grandmother who is a professional artist taught me all sorts of techniques using different mediums like ink, oil pastels/paints, stitch, scrape etc. Always though, I found an ease in the movement and simplicity of acrylic paints. I have had many little creative ventures but nothing that motivated me in the long-term. At the end of last year, 2023, I decided to enter a local art auction and the reactions and feedback made me realise I could do something here. So, in February of this year, Farbe Studio was born.

what’s one of your favourite moments in your creative career so far?

The Margaret River Art Auction night blew my socks off! I won the Emerging Artist 2023 prize, but that wasn’t why I loved it. I honestly couldn’t get over that a person, or many people, genuinely connected with something that came out of my brain, out of my experience really.

who are the designers/creatives inspiring you right now?

I am a huge fangirl of painter Tiarna Herczeg, her use of colour and her storytelling. She is such a force and I genuinely love her art. Also, painter Kate Florence, I think her subject matter is always interesting and her brushwork is outstanding. I love whenever something new from her comes out.

describe to us your perfect day.

A perfect day would look like my early morning solo trip to the farmers market, before it gets busy. Getting all of our fresh food for the week, focaccia, coffee and letting my nose freeze off. Then home for fuzzy-head bed cuddles with my people. A tidy 5-6 hours of intuitive painting where I forget my basic needs, water, food, toilet etc. I do eventually emerge, bleary-eyed and covered in paint. I decompress, swimming in salty water or walking in the bush with my people. We make a very delicious dinner and finish the night having slow conversations and reading very good books!

Thank you so much for joining us!

See more of Jessie’s mid-century influenced artwork here. All images courtesy of Farbe Studio.

Jessie Hartwig-Boutkan

Grace Elizabeth

Sara Winfield