Llael MacDonald has almost finished her painting, Lisa’s Feast which she will publicly unveil at her home later this month after 12 months of work.
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Lisa’s Feast is an intricately detailed celebration of food, wine and the landscape.
“I had the idea in my head for a while. I wanted to celebrate provincial Victoria and the wonderful food we have here like fresh produce, cheese and wine,” Ms MacDonald said.
The two and a half times two metre painting is of Lisa Marmur, an artist and friend of Ms MacDonald.
Ms Marmur is pictured on a verandah enjoying a large spread of food.
“I wanted to paint Lisa for a number of reasons, but I really did want an excuse to paint her hair,” she said.
The painting is a nod to Trentham through the finer details of the artwork.
There are saffron milk caps, which are common in the region, as well as black cockatoos, a vast grassy field and a picturesque starry night sky.
Her favourite wine is also a prominent feature. There are two bottles of Musk Lane wines sitting among the feast of vibrant fruits, vegetables and native flowers.
The twinkling lights of the city are pictured in the far distance.
Ms MacDonald started painting when she was seven and has been an artist for 27 years.
She mostly paints with oil on linen canvases but also dabbles in watercolours.
Originally from Melbourne, Ms MacDonald and her family moved to Trentham in 2014, where her husband has built their house and a separate artists studio in between his shifts as a paramedic.
“I am very influenced by my surroundings. I draw a lot of inspiration from the sights and sounds of Trentham, like the call of the black cockatoo and the beauty of the landscape,” she said.
“I used to paint a lot of urban scenes and cityscapes, but now I have moved on to painting natural landscapes. I like to paint people within a landscape.”
Ms MacDonald says this is just the first of a series of paintings she is planning on painting of women in her area.
“This is the first of a series of women I am going to paint in their chosen industries.”
“There are lots of interesting women in Trentham and I want to paint them,” she said.
She plans to paint another of her friends, Rosemary Wilson, for her next work.
Lisa’s Feast will be unveiled to the people of Trentham on February 23, with guests given the opportunity to see some of Ms MacDonald’s other work on the evening.
Ms MacDonald also has plans to enter Lisa’s Feast in the running for the Sulman prize in New South Wales and the Fleurier prize in South Australia.
