ISLA McWILLIAM
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Isla is a visual artist working in oils and mixed media. Her work focuses on capturing and preserving memories, emotions, and everyday moments through painting. Often drawing from her own experiences, she uses a mix of realistic and surreal elements to reflect how memories shift and change over time.
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McWilliam's oil paintings are layered and textural, built slowly to reflect the emotional weight of a moment or place. She often incorporates other materials, including found objects and photography, to push her work beyond the canvas and explore how we hold on to the past.
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Based in Brisbane, she continues to develop a practice grounded in storytelling, material experimentation, and the personal connection between people and place.
Tranquility
Oil on canvas.
124.5 x 185.5 cm
$1800
Tranquility was created as an immersive escape, a moment of calm pulled away from the noise of reality. I've always felt a deep connection to the ocean and the sense of serenity it brings, so this work draws on that personal association as a source of peace and clarity.
Using surrealism and soft, fantastical elements, I wanted to create a scene that feels otherworldly, almost angelic, where viewers could drift, breathe, and feel momentarily weightless. The scale of the work is deliberate and immersive, inviting people to step into a dreamlike space that sits somewhere between memory and imagination.