Louise Mabbutt

My artwork is inspired by childhood memories of growing up in Sabah, Borneo and in later years working on the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns, as a Reef Naturalist.   Teaching snorkelling and introducing people from all over the world to the reef ecosystem was my passion and that passion is now expressed in my artwork. I have no formal training in artwork but years of dabbling!

I spent two years in Darwin 2017 – 2019 and found on the local beaches a vast array of different corals, shells, seaweeds and sponges.   This is due to the northwesterly monsoonal winds and the location of reefs not far off the coast line.  A collectors paradise!   No permit was required to collect off the beaches.

Combining watercolour paint withthe natural fabrics of coral, shells, sponges and seaweeds that I collected from beaches in the Northern Territory and Western Australia,  I have developed my ‘reefscape’ pictures in various different sizes.