Summer Lingers On

Growing up in Tasmania, she developed a deep love for old houses and a passion for interiors and currently works from a rambling, 150-year-old house in the beautiful New England town of Armidale, NSW.

Through her still lifes, Hale offers a contemplative exploration of the beauty found in commonplace subjects, transforming seemingly mundane items into art that resonates with authenticity and emotional depth.

This was evident in her oil painting ‘Bedroom Chair and Clementine’ in last year’s NEAP, which earned her a place as a worthy finalist.

Hale’s ‘Summer Lingers On’ exhibition beautifully captures the tranquil elegance of everyday objects, conjuring a masterful interplay of light and shadow. Soft, natural light gently illuminates floral arrangements and compelling glass displays, casting subtle variations in tone and texture that bring an almost tangible quality and depth to the composition.

“For some, summer days are all about the sea. Ocean swims or jumping from rocks, ice cream on the sand or fishing with a coastal breeze and all of these have their place,” says Hale, whose sensitivity to atmosphere and nuanced colour palette imbues her pieces with warmth and evokes a lingering sense of summer’s presence within the domestic space.

“But in the country, when you are hours from the coast and summer is lingering on, an old house with her thick, cool walls, wide verandahs and old shady trees puts on her bathing suit and becomes a Summer House.”