Sunrise Beach, Qld

Ben Lucas is an award winning oil and watercolour painter. His paintings carry a graceful and emotionally evocative presence and have been exhibited in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

His current work is a direct response to the unique light and colour of Coastal Australia – that restless margin where land, sea and sky join at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The artist is as concerned with capturing and conveying the emotions evoked by the landscape as landscape itself.

As Ben says, “With my painting there’s always this tension or balance between portraying what is seen and what is felt” echoing the words of the great romantic painter John Constable who said, “painting is but another word for feeling“.

Ben’s family has a strong background in the arts. He is the son of the artist Caroline Lucas as well as being the brother of the portrait painter Fanny Rush and the sculptor Joe Rush. He is also the Grandson of the author Mary Norton best known for the children’s classics ‘The Borrowers’ and ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’. His Grandfather was the pioneering modernist architect and painter Colin Lucas who received an OBE for his work. Colin was a member of ‘Unit One’ the British grouping of Modernist artists founded by Paul Nash.

Ben now lives in Australia where he works in his Noosa studio alongside his wife - the highly regarded Australian potter Elke Lucas.

Artist Statement

I paint from memory, drawing on time spent watching the changing moods of the ocean and the play of light over and into its surface. Using a variety of tools and brushes I freely manipulate the paint on the canvas until I feel that the painting is complete. This can be over a period of weeks as I layer fresh paint over the dry surface. I’m always looking for a sense of immediacy in the work and try to avoid overworking the paintings – sometimes knowing when to stop is the hardest thing. In my view the paintings are a success when they hold a dramatic energy and sense of movement while at the same time carrying a peaceful quiet presence. It’s this tension between these two contrasts that I find so fascinating.

When asked what I paint I sometimes find myself describing my paintings as emotional landscapes, which is to say that they draw on feelings and memories inspired by life as well as the natural world that I gain such inspiration from.