Glenda Charles is a Bribie based artist whose practice spans more than three decades and encompasses painting, teaching, gallery management, and ongoing arts education. Working primarily in oil paint, she creates expressive and intuitive works that draw inspiration from gardens, landscapes, intimate domestic spaces, and the natural world. Glenda has exhibited widely throughout Queensland and continues to maintain an active studio practice, producing works that celebrate the transformative and restorative power of creativity.

Glenda’s contemporary paintings balance observation with abstraction, embracing spontaneity, mystery, and the physical qualities of paint itself. Her work is guided by intuition rather than predetermined outcomes, allowing each painting to evolve through layers of colour, gesture, and discovery. In recent years, her practice has increasingly explored abstraction as a way of expressing joy, openness, and emotional connection beyond literal representation.

The exhibition grew from a conscious desire to focus on optimism and creativity in uncertain times. The works are layered, expressive, and playful. Organic forms emerge and dissolve through fields of colour, gestural brushwork, and intuitive drawing. Echoes of seedpods, flowers, landscapes, waterways, and collected natural treasures appear throughout the paintings, reflecting a lifelong reverence for nature and environmental stewardship. 

“As sensitive souls, we struggle with the world and its catastrophes: wars, hostility, dictatorships, inhumanity, money ruling over decency. As an antidote, I decided this year to paint with joy and about joy.”

Visitors familiar with Glenda’s earlier work will recognise her unmistakable visual language while also encountering a fresh sense of freedom and experimentation.  JOY offers an early glimpse into the ideas, techniques, and directions currently shaping her work.

 “The joy of painting is that you are always learning. When you start to think you're a bit clever, painting can remind you of how much there is to learn.”