Come and take a walk with me around my neighbourhood. It will be a sunny winter’s day in Brisbane, so maybe we’ll bring the dog. We won’t go far; I’ll keep it under five kilometres. If its Saturday, we might grab a table in the sun at one of my favourite pubs or catch a gig near the showgrounds.
The further we go, the more fun we will find. We’ll start with the path I usually take through the back of Ballymore, past the shipping containers, and down near Northey Street. If we follow it around, we might end up in Ashgrove or a bit further up in Bardon to catch the views.
Maybe we’ll get up early to find the best coffee and a sunny place to sit. It might be 5:30am at the dog park or 4:30pm on Caxton Street with a drink, watching people go by, either way, we’ll make the most of it.
Walking Distance is what it means to be close to the places that matter to me. It's discovering locations that become part of my story. These paintings are full of little bits of me. Some are inside jokes or funny memories, others are scenes I’ve fallen in love with. They are painted with music in my ears, reminding me of time spent with friends and family.
Julia Sirianni, 2025
For Julia Sirianni, painting is more than a pastime – it is a way of finding calm in a world that causes anxiety. Location is everything. Each painting is the result of hours of research, scouring landscapes for the perfect space in which to immerse herself. Trained formally in Fine Art, Sirianni gravitated towards plein air painting when she discovered its intuitive, fast nature suited her own drive and boosted the confidence with which she viewed her practice. Soothed by her surroundings, Sirianni’s attention shifts to atmosphere, and using light and colour to evoke the elements in front of her.
Lately, Sirianni has sought places of calm in the inner city, a result of the restrictions the world is currently living under. Able only to take photos or complete a few short sketches, her new body of work has been completed in the studio, leading to more detail, and focus on the manmade – though she continues to push herself to complete the works quickly, while her senses retain the memory of the place she has been. These works highlight the odd beauty of human traces, and the will of nature to regrow and repair.
Julia Sirianni completed her Bachelor of Visual Art at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, in 2015. Winner of the Macquarie Group Emerging Art Prize People’s Choice Award, Sydney (2019), she was a finalist in the Rotary Art Spectacular (2019), the Morris Art Prize (2018), Nundah Art Show (2017) and the Brisbane Art Prize (2016).
Julia Sirianni has been selected as a finalist in the 2024 Hadley's Art Prize for her work 'Turtle Creek' 2023. Presented by Hadley’s Orient Hotel, the annual Hadley’s Art Prize in Hobart is an acquisitive Australian landscape prize which offers $100,000 to the winning entry.
Hadley’s Orient Hotel has a long history with art starting with art-loving landlords in the late 1800s. The Hadley’s Art Prize, Hobart contributes to the art community, celebrates excellence in contemporary landscape art, promotes cultural tourism in Tasmania, and restores art to the historic walls of Hadley’s Orient Hotel through a landscape prize like early landlord Howard Hadley won in 1895.
Judged by a panel of art specialists, the prize is open to Australian artists over the age of eighteen working in two-dimensional media. Artists at all career stages are invited to enter. The exhibition of finalists will be held at the Hadley’s Orient Hotel from 3 - 25 August.
IMAGE:
Julia Sirianni Turtle Creek 2023 oil on linen 152 x 122 cm
Congratulations to Julia Sirianni for being a finalist in the Emerging Artist category of the Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize for 2020.
The Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize is an annual acquisitive prize that was launched in 2017 to advance art and opportunity for emerging and established women artists in Australia. It is the highest value professional artist prize for women in Australia.
There are three prize categories – the Professional Artist Prize of $35,000, the Emerging Artist Prize of $5,000 and the Indigenous Emerging Artist Prize of $5,000.
