Contemporary oil paintings with real brushwork

Why contemporary

Contemporary abstracts are judged on surface, not subject, so texture decides everything

With no recognisable subject to carry the work, what you actually respond to is the paint itself and how it sits on the canvas.

Most people choose an abstract from a small screen image and then find the real thing feels either richer or flatter than expected. That difference is almost always the surface. A hand-painted oil has ridges where the knife lifted, thin scraped passages where the weave shows through, and edges that are soft on one side and sharp on the other. Those variations are what make an abstract hold up at close range, standing beside it in a hallway rather than viewed from the sofa.

Go bigger than feels sensible. A contemporary abstract needs breathing room, and anything under 60cm on a broad wall reads as an afterthought; aim for roughly two-thirds the width of the sofa or bed below it. Hang the centre at about 145cm. Pull one restrained colour from the painting for cushions or a throw rather than matching the loudest one. What fails: busy multi-panel sets on an already busy wall, and hanging a high-texture work in flat overhead light, where the surface disappears.

How your painting is made

1. Choose the size and finishSeven standard sizes from 60 × 50cm to 200 × 135cm. Stretched ready to hang, rolled, or one of our frames. The size guide on every painting shows it to scale.
2. Painted to order, by handA university-trained artist paints your piece in oils on canvas, working from the original. Two to three weeks at the easel, then drying time.
3. Stretched, framed, checkedGallery-wrapped or framed in our workshop, then photographed and checked before it leaves.
4. Delivered free, Australia-wideMade to order in 21 to 28 days, then tracked to your door. Thirty-day money-back guarantee if it isn't what you hoped.