A Closer Look at Locals . . .

Candece Jay

Candece Jay, local to Donald, spent some of her earlier years travelling widely with her family, with no real affinity to one place before moving to Donald in 2009. 

She has four children, Finn, her eldest son who has completed his schooling; twins Toby and Geordie have just started high school; and youngest daughter Piper attends St. Mary’s.

During COVID-19 restrictions, Candece feels fortunate to still be hard at work, right here at the “Buloke Times”, where her role covers various tasks that contribute to the successful bi-weekly paper.

Among her various tasks at work, Candece puts together the advertising that keeps our country paper going and, with a creative eye that pays close attention to detail, creates the jigsaw puzzles that become the all-important classifieds pages. Most of this is centred on graphic design, however, and doesn’t even come close to scratching the surface of Candece Jay’s artistic ability. 

Artistic Talent

Candece studied formally at Swinburne University, where she gained a Bachelor of Design, majoring in print design, but her career choice between art and design could really have gone either way; her creative expression is certainly not limited to graphic design, with clearly apparent skill in other artistic formats.

COVID-19 restrictions mean that Candece’s time is now balanced between work and her children, but somehow, she has still managed to find time to break away from the limitations of graphic design in order to return to the freedom of art on her own terms. 

Candece enjoys drawing, and has found that she is exploring a great deal that she may have learned formerly had she pursued art as her study choice; such as scale versus detail and scale versus texture of the surface she is drawing on. Because she has always avoided doing faces, in July she will be challenging herself with a 30 faces in 30 days course. 

Photography

Although she finds drawing more fun, Candece says there is more instant gratification in photography and one of her emerging passions is taking snaps at night. What better place to practise, taking photos of a vast sky, far from the light pollution of the city, where a starry night could take your breath away?

And it has been photographs she has taken around the district that caught the interest of an online collective photo gallery called “Cream Town”, where three images that Candece has captured at scenic locations in the region were chosen to be exhibited (www.isaebella.com/photography).
“Cream Town” was initiated by artists in regional Victoria as a way to help support those affected by closures of art galleries during COVID-19. The collective gallery features A3-sized prints from over 100 Australian artists, for a simple $100 a pop cost per print. Of this price, nearly half goes directly to the artist, $32 goes to Bone and Hound printers, and $20 goes to Cream Town to support the online shop.

“Jeffcott Ready for Paint”, “Stillness @ Walkers” and “Mt. Jeffcott Wildflowers” are the titles of the images that were selected for the gallery, not only displaying Candece’s ability as a photographer, but also showing off the beauty surrounding us in our very own district. These three prints were on display until April 26 with “Jeffcott Ready for Paint” remaining for a few extra weeks. After that, listings were voluntarily removed to make way for more artists.
Candece’s artist profile (www.isaebella.com/artists#/candece-jay/) describes her as “coming back to art the long way round; a ‘lost girl’ rediscovering a love for colour and light. Something the big Wimmera Mallee sky she lives under provides so magnificently.”

“Still trying to settle on what gives her the most joy (though why settle at all?), this happily ‘lost girl’ currently indulges in photography, digital art and drawing.”

Web Page

Most recently, Candece has decided to jump right in and go online herself with the creation of her own web page, www.lostgirl-art.com.au, though still currently a work in progress, the website offers a range of photographic prints and art available for sale from as little as $10.

One thing to keep an eye out for on in the future will be her Alcohol Ink originals (and possibly prints) that will be listed soon. While there was a world-wide shortage on alcohol due to Coronavirus, Candece has had to wait to use the inks that blend with alcohol to produce amazingly bright and vibrant designs. 

Now, with supplies returning to shelves, she is able to experiment with this technique and looking forward to embracing her mistakes as much as her successes. 

To keep updated, you can visit her Instagram page (https://instagram.com/los.t.g.irl007), where she describes herself as a “former graphic designer and current victim of artistic wanderlust, making it all up as she goes along”. No doubt fans of her work will look 
forward to seeing what this talented artist can challenge herself with next.