Pet Portrait Artist ~ Cynthia Hargraves.Member and Master Pastellist of Pastel Society of Australia

Cynthia Hargraves’s paintings convey her love of capturing the fresh vividness of light as it plays on her subjects.  Whether the subject is of people, animals or nature that are used to create an emotional impact it is by controlling values, edges, light and pulsating colour that work together in creating her works of art.

Cynthia was born in America but moved to Australia when 6 yrs old.  She comes from an artistic family and was taught to paint and draw from a young age. Although Cynthia has a Diploma of Teaching and Bachelor of Education her formal tuition in art has been with many different master teachers from Australia and Overseas over the span of 30 years. Her work is more influenced currently by  world renown Sally Strand and Clayton J Beck III ( taught by Richard Schmidt ). Both American artists.
Her love of pastels has led her to achieve  Master Pastellist qualifications with the Pastel Society of Australia which receives world wide recognition. She has won awards for her paintings and had them published in Australian Artist magazine in April, August 2006 and written  articles on Portraiture. Her Seascapes article was published in March 2009 and another article on her paintings has been submitted for publication.
Much of her work is through commissions in portraiture, life studies, landscapes and flowers.
Cynthia’s love of flowers has been solely in oil paintings on large canvases.  These are available as a single painting or in triptych and diptych.  Her floral fine art demonstrates her love of portraying a vivid freshness from early morning light. 
Much of her landscapes reflects her extensive travels throughout Australia and overseas while her portraiture and life studies are found throughout everyday life.
Although her work is represented by Lumiere Gallery in Perth her exhibitions and showings are often seen in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.