Just a few years back, Prudence DeMarchi was painting in her laundry, surrounded by soaking buckets filled with baby bibs and onesies. With canvases spilling into the hallway and two little people wandering in and out of her makeshift studio, life was sweet but messy. “I would sneak in and paint for forty minutes here or there and when the washing machine would go off, all my paints would start shaking and rumbling and I would hold on for dear life!” remembers Prudence. “Even though it was a two metre-by-two metre tiny space, it was still my refuge, and I just painted all the time because I loved it.”
Four years later and this Newcastle artist has had many pinch-me moments. Spending her days painting in her newly built dedicated art studio, a light filled space, designed to tag onto the end of her amazing house renovation in leafy New Lambton, is one of them. Despite art and painting being a consistent force in her life since she was a child, the reality of working as a full time creative is a relatively new thing for Prudence. “I still can’t really believe that I get to paint for a living… that this is my job,” says Prudence. “For me, everything sort of happened at the right time over the past few years and that’s helped project what had been a hobby for me,
into something that I can now do as a career.”
What a few years it’s been for the thirty-six-year-old! After twelve years of dedicating her life to teaching in the special education sector, Prudence was offered the role of Assistant Principal when she was eight months pregnant with her first child, Annabelle. The juggle of working part-time as an AP, with a new baby proved tricky. “You have this mum guilt because I felt like I couldn’t be across everything and I don’t work that way… I always give 110%,” says Prudence. “I struggled that year and felt like I wasn’t doing anything really well. The whole time I just kept painting because it was an outlet and a time where I could just be me.”
“I still can’t really believe that I get to paint for a living… that this is my job. For me, everything sort of happened at the right time over the past few years and that’s helped project what had been a hobby for me, into something that I can now do as a career.”
Painting on the side became painting whenever she had a moment spare and before long, Prudence had filled her spare rooms with canvases and wondered whether she might try her luck at selling one. Like many successful Newcastle artists before her, The Olive Tree Markets, proved the perfect springboard to test the waters. Prudence remembers her Olive Tree weekends fondly, with grandparents driving from Dubbo to look after baby Annabelle, whilst Prudence and her husband Grant would pack the car with paintings and spend the day meeting locals, talking art, and watching her wares find a new home with more and more happy customers. “It was a big, special family weekend once a month and it just kept building and building. Eventually, I got into Jumbled; a brilliant online store for all things home and art, and from there painting for me just went to another level,” says Prudence.
Fellow artist and Novocastrian Mitch Revs was instrumental in helping Prudence take her art to the next stage. “Mitch has been so lovely and supportive of me – he was like, “Come and do an exhibition in my space!” and “Let’s do prints!” His interest and support has been amazing,” says Prudence. Crediting Revs, as well as The Olive Tree Market’s Justine Gaudry and Pip Brett from Jumbled as key individuals who helped her artistic career take off, Prudence couldn’t be more grateful for their belief in her. “Within twelve months, I had these three amazing, beautiful, inspiring and encouraging people helping me,” remembers Prudence. “In a way they forced me to take my painting more seriously, to get an ABN, business cards and think about that side of things. All the while, I just kept painting.”
“I would sneak in and paint for forty minutes here or there and when the washing machine would go off, all my paints would start shaking and rumbling and I would hold on for dear life!”
After adding baby Hudson to the family, Prudence took the plunge to paint full-time and she’s never looked back. With a bunch of solo and combined exhibitions under her belt and some high traffic stockists including Greenhouse Interiors, Art to Art and The Block Shop, Prudence says life has never been busier. “I do most of my admin and social media stuff when the kids are in bed and try really hard to paint during the day when I have bigger chunks of time so I can have those flow moments if I’m in the middle of creating something. I don’t know how many hats I wear but there’s a lot!”
Many know Prudence for her colourful acrylic paintings featuring flowers, but its colour that initially sparks the creative process for the artist. “Everywhere I go, I get inspiration and I’m constantly taking photos and when I flick through them, something will click and spark an idea,” she says. Unlike some artists, Prudence doesn’t spend a whole lot of time mapping her artworks out and prefers to paint how she feels. “Mitch Revs was mortified when I told him how I work!” laughs Prudence. “He couldn’t believe that I didn’t plan out my paintings on an iPad or anything but that’s just not how I do it… I literally just start painting on the canvas and I love the freedom
that comes from that.”
“Everywhere I go, I get inspiration and I’m constantly taking photos and when I flick through them, something will click and spark an idea… … I literally just start painting on the canvas and I love the freedom that comes from that.”
Collaborating with brands like Earp Distilling Co and New Zealand Skin Co and with artworks featuring on 2020 and 2021 episodes of The Block, Prudence also saw her art walk the catwalk at this year’s Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, after working with Aussie fashion label GYRE. “I painted seashells for them two years ago, but production takes a long time in the fashion world and when those garments were selected to go to Fashion Week this year I was shocked!” says Prudence. “I was a guest at the show and
was invited backstage. It was such an experience, but me being me, after knocking around with these cool fashion people, I drove back to Newcastle and twenty minutes after getting home, I was in bed snuggling with the kids watching The Lion King… straight back into mum mode!”
House Profile
Age of house:
The house was built in 1940 and we bought it in 2017.
Who lives here?
I live with my husband Grant and two little ones, Annabelle and Hudson.
The renovations so far:
Oh man, where to start? When we first bought the house, we renovated the front half. This included closing in the front veranda to make a HUGE master bedroom with a lovely stained glass bay window – which is something I had always wanted. We also did some work on a few extra bits here and there, such as the ensuite.
More recently, we demolished the entire back half of the house and built a new study, dining room, main bathroom, kitchen, floor-to-ceiling storage, living room, outdoor kitchen, laundry and a painting studio for me!
Favourite room in the house and why?
That is so hard, but I think it would have to be the kids’ room. It has an absolutely beautiful ornate ceiling and there are just so many happy memories made there from time spent reading, cuddling and playing together.
Favourite piece in the house and why?
I honestly have a little love affair with every piece of art I own, whether it’s mine or one I’ve collected – they’re all so different but so special. There is a pink painting I did during lockdown that always takes me back to those gorgeous newborn days with Hudson. The kids were both so little and we had so much time to soak them all in.
What do you love the most about living in New Lambton?
New Lambton is the perfect spot for us. It’s so close to everything we need, with beautiful daycares and schools for the kids. My family is close by and now we have built our dream home, we couldn’t be happier!
Followers of the artist’s social media accounts get a sneak peek at her down-to-earth nature, and Prudence is the first to say she refuses to take herself and the art world too seriously which makes her even more endearing. “I try to keep things pretty real,” says Prudence. “There’s no deep social commentary in my art… I’m not making a statement about religion or a particular issue, it’s just pure happiness and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
“I just want people to look at my paintings and smile… that’s it,” says Prudence. “There’s enough heavy stuff in the world, so if I can spread some joy with my art, I’m happy.”
Words: Odette Tonkin | Photography: Dominique Cherry
As seen in Swell Issue 15.
