Wendy Thompson

Wendy Lorraine Thompson is an established landscape artist. A two-time finalist of the John Villiers Outback Art Prize, Wendy's work takes the viewer on a journey to experience the beauty of the outback through her eyes, via her expressive mark marking, and representations of Australia’s distinctive landscapes.

A Plein Air enthusiast who has travelled extensively across Australia - memorising, sketching, and photographing many landscapes and subjects. She works across extended painting sessions with many layers of oil paint. Wendy’s selection and layering of landscapes draws the eye through the complementary aesthetic values of their forms, shapes and colours. The final image produced portrays a representational painting of many and varied vistas.

Art Prizes

2023 Highly Commended – Frost Over Barraba

2021 Finalist – John Villiers Outback Art Prize

2011 Finalist – John Villiers Outback Art Prize

2010 First Prize (Local Artist)– Cancer Council Charity Art Competition. Judge: Ian Smith

Upcoming Exhibitions

2026 Stage to Page, Tamworth Regional Gallery, group exhibition Tamworth

2026 Roadtrip!, Gunnedah Bicentennial Creative Arts Gallery, group exhibition Gunnedah

Exhibition History

2026 Coloured Country, CStudios Gallery, solo exhibition Newcastle

2025 Friends of the Gallery Auction, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth

2024 Wendy Thompson Retrospective at Ceramic Break Sculpture Park, Warialda

2024 Create Narrabri, Wee Waa Community Arts and Cultural Centre, Wee Waa

2024 I Dreamed a Dream, Wendy Thompson Retrospective, Wee Waa

2023 Touring exhibition Body of Work at Gunnedah BCA Gallery and Wee Waa CACC

2011 - 2012 Touring exhibition to outback galleries across Queensland

2007 - 2010 I managed my own Residential Gallery and Art Studio, Russell Island, Queensland

Education

2010 Tamworth TAFE, Diploma of Fine Arts (partial), High Distinction. Teacher: Gabrielle Collins

Through vibrant colour, originality and clarity of vision, I strive to bring a sense of life and immediacy to my paintings, creating works that resonate with viewers and evoke their own memories of the Australian landscape. Inspired by places I have viewed and visited - I reimagine them as expressive terrain, spaces that pulse with memory, movement and emotion.

I aim to bring my compositions alive with exuberant colour and rhythmic detail. Hills, waterways and skies are layered and interwoven to create a sense of abundance and energy. Rather than documenting a literal scene, I reinterpret the landscape through an imaginative artistic style, allowing intuition and feeling to guide form and palette. The result is intended to feel both familiar and dreamlike - grounded in real experience and liberated by creative expression.

Through dynamic mark-making and bold tonal contrasts, I hope the work invites viewers to move across its surface, discovering pockets of intensity and moments of quiet harmony.