Community Spotlight: Mardi Busby

Today we're shining our community spotlight on artist Mardi Busby and sharing her creative journey in her own words...

Looking back, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to create – to draw, to design, to make something with my hands. My father recognised that early and nurtured it with ‘How to Draw’ books, teaching me how to really look – to see shapes, shadows and light. Those simple lessons shaped everything that followed.

I grew up in Melbourne, surrounded by native bushland, where imagination filled long days outdoors. That early connection to nature very much formed my sense of what ‘home’ feels like – organic, textural and grounded.

Mardi Busby: completing the finer details of this ‘Young Pomegranate’ oil painting, measuring: 114H x 140W cm

Choosing a creative path felt natural. I began in graphic design alongside a TV studio in the days before computers, when everything was manual and precise. It refined my technical skills but eventually left me unfulfilled. After 10 years, and with the industry changing, I moved on.

Working as an assistant art teacher with young children reawakened something important – the joy and freedom of making without judgement. Later, while raising my own family, I ran art-based businesses and returned to study art and design for a time. Although I didn’t complete the degree, I gained clarity about what truly resonated. Over the years, through workshops, mentors and experimentation, I gradually uncovered what mattered most in my own artistic voice.

For more than 20 years painting became my main form of expression. I worked in two distinct styles – purely abstract works and realistic oil paintings. The abstract pieces allowed me freedom to explore mark-making and express my core values in a loose, intuitive way. The realistic works fulfilled a different need – to share the beauty and detail I experience when observing the world around me.

‘Healthy Snack’ Oil on canvas. Canvas Size: 112H x 137W cm 

With my realist oil paintings, my intention has always been to encourage others to notice the beauty in everyday foods. I often magnify the scale, which demands a physical interaction with the canvas – moments of working intimately with the surface, then stepping back to assess from a distance. These larger-than-life images are hard to ignore. The larger canvases can take months to complete. During that slow, technical, multi-layered process I form a relationship with the painting – fine tuning the light source, subtle colour shifts, reflections and shadows. Those early lessons from my father about really looking come into their own here. Life drawing classes reinforced the idea that everything is a shape, not an object. One of the best ways to learn is simply to really, really look.

‘Contained Within’ Size: 137H x 106W cm. Oil on canvas

My abstract works, on the other hand, offer a very different and deeply personal experience. They require me to shift the focus away from the final outcome and relinquish control, embracing the process so new ideas can flow. Not every exploration yields something aesthetically pleasing, but there is always a lesson to carry forward. Throughout this journey it has been crucial for me to silence external influences, disregard passing trends and trust my intuitive voice – easier said than done at times. 

Over the years my paintings have travelled to countries around the world. I have received awards for my detailed pieces and even painted for the Prime Minister. Yet recently I found myself lacking motivation to enter the studio. External acknowledgement had started to influence me more than it should have. I felt I was being swept along a path that no longer felt aligned. The quiet internal voice telling me something was missing was getting louder. I knew I needed to return to a sense of play and freedom.

The recent loss of my elderly mum was a pivotal moment. It sharpened my awareness of time and what truly matters. Around the same time, I was introduced by chance to Take Two courses that resonated with me in a way I hadn’t expected. I realised it was time to stop what I had been doing and return to experimenting and playing. Sometimes you have to work out where you don’t want to be in order to discover where you are meant to be – where your energy aligns and your strengths shine. 

Framed fabric artwork for one of the Sensing Place course modules Size: 37H x 31.5W cm

I was initially drawn to Debbie Lyddon’s Sensing Place because of her inventive use of fabrics – staining and manipulating them with bitumen, rust and other processes. From the outset, I was all in. In past online courses I have often skipped modules, but with Debbie’s approach I completed every single one and loved every minute. Working with this different medium was refreshing. I could bring my experience with inks, watercolours, acrylics, bitumen and wax together with my love of organic linens, textured papers and raw materials. 

Debbie helped me articulate what I had long been drawn to – textural materials, neutral earthy palettes, anything raw, organic and weathered by time. For me it is about being real and transparent, revealing the layers beneath what we present to the world. We are all imperfectly perfect. That belief has always underpinned my art, but Debbie helped me give it a clearer voice.

Linen Vessel: Linen, rusted wire, rust and ink-stained fabric, waxed linen thread. Approximate Size: 27W x 24D x 14H cm

Having previously studied Interior Decoration and design principles, I can see how that has influenced my desire to create one-off vessels that personalise a space and introduce a perfectly imperfect presence into a room. Exploring 3D vessels – playing with shape, texture, palette and raw, organic stitchwork – feels like a natural evolution. Looking back, I can see how bowls and vessel-like forms appeared in both my abstract and realistic paintings. For the first time in a very long time, I can’t wait to get out of bed and head into the studio to try my next idea – sometimes still in my pyjamas. That feeling of ‘home’ has finally landed.

Linen Vessel: Stained linen, wax linen thread, completed with a wax finish. Approximate size: 24W x 25H cm

Because my abstract painting process has always been intuitive – beginning with loose ideas and allowing the work to inform the next move – working with fabric has been both challenging and exciting. The materials have different strengths and limitations. Debbie’s generous and contemporary teaching style made that transition easier than I expected. I loved the way she manipulated fabric, opening up endless possibilities. We were encouraged to interpret each module in our own experimental way, to take what resonated and follow it. 

At the core of my practice is the belief that remaining true to what is important to me guides each stage of creating a piece. I think of it as a call and response approach – each stage informing the next, allowing chance and unplanned moments to lead the way. This intuitive journey enriches the work with a depth I could never pre-plan. It doesn’t always produce immediate success, but there is always something to learn and carry forward.

I already have my eye on a couple more Take Two courses to further explore this 3D curiosity – perhaps a new obsession. 

My journey of discovery continues. 

Art has a unique way of conveying deep meaning without words, shaping an environment that reflects who we are and how we feel.