Introducing Penny Apple Studio

Introducing Penny from Penny Apple Studio.   Where every item is handmade!! From her home in Deniliquin NSW, Penny creates original paintings celebrating movement, colour and character.

Find out why Penny started creating and why she is so passionate about the value of handmade.

Tell us about your creations and your handmade process.

My current creations are primarily expressive acrylic paintings with loose and bold brushwork. Right from the start, I focus on making the brushstrokes the hero. I prepare a canvas or wood panel with several coats of gesso, then sketch a basic outline in pencil. Sometimes I go over the main sketch with thinned paint so as not to lose it completely when I begin adding layers. Then comes a value study to establish light and dark areas, a crucial step in my process.

Colour often gets the spotlight, but in reality you can use any colour. The important part is how dark or light that colour is (its value) that gives the subject its form and depth. Once my values are established, I wash colour over the entire surface. This harmonises the painting, ties everything together and creates a beautiful base for the layers to come. I don't deliberately leave background showing, but rarely brushstrokes are completely opaque, you can often see what lies beneath part or all of the stroke. Having that coloured ground adds a touch of magic that lifts the piece and stops me from feeling like I need to keep painting over areas for coverage. It lets the foundational brushstrokes take charge a principle rooted in my early folk art training, where every mark had purpose. After this ground layer, I block in darks, mids and lights for the main subject, then do the same for the background.

My focus is always on expressive brushwork and packing as much personality into the piece as I can using as fewer strokes as possible. The goal is for every painting to tell a story and make you feel a connection. The quick-drying nature of acrylics suits my process perfectly. I don't blend - each brushstroke is placed with intention and left alone. This takes some getting used to because the instinct to "fix" things is often strong, but overworking leads to messy, hesitant marks rather than bold, confident ones. Once enough layers are built and values are balanced, I let the painting rest overnight. Acrylics dry two to three shades darker which is sometimes a blessing and sometimes a challenge, but it's simply part of their charm. Finally, I add feature highlights and a varnish layer. Acrylic doesn't need varnish for protection, but it enhances and unifies the finish. I use Australian-made and owned Atelier Free Flow acrylics for their pigment strength, along with mediums and gesso from Solid Solutions. 

My palette is always limited to magenta, phthalo blue, and arylamide yellow, with plenty of titanium white (and the occasional dash of pyrole red for vivid reds like poppies or rosellas). I call my approach intuitive colour mixing and it's all about knowing how your colours behave inside out and upside down, a skill honed through years of experimentation. I once owned over a hundred tubes of different colours, but now I rely on just three. When a painting is complete, I decide (often with feedback from my online community) which pieces to transform into prints, cards and magnets. I scan each one at high resolution in TIFF format, carefully colour correct and digitally stitch larger works. My monitor is regularly calibrated so colours stay true. I print my giclée-quality fine art prints in-house, while my cards and magnets are printed locally. Each piece is a fragment of my story. A collection of thoughts, feelings and quiet moments translated into paint. I hope that when someone looks at my work, they sense the same joy and connection that I felt while creating it.

Tell us a bit about your journey to becoming a handmade artist.

I must create. I cannot not. It's a deep passion - it's who I am, who I've always been and who I'll always be. From a young age I was known as "the creative one." Art, craft and storytelling were always part of my world and I never really saw them as skills to be learned they were simply part of me. After school, life took me on an unexpected path across the country to help my brother with his young children. While there, I enrolled in folk art classes at the local community college, where I discovered the magic of acrylics and the power of brushstrokes.

I was fascinated by how a single stroke could hold so much purpose, rhythm and control and I was hooked. 

I travelled widely, learning from teachers and fellow artists across Australia and began teaching classes myself, sharing what I knew with local and regional students. Before long, it became a full-time job and I spent years teaching weekly sessions and weekend workshops filled with creativity, laughter and friendship. When my husband's work took us to new towns, I adapted. Creating and selling painted woodcrafts and eventually designing my own "country woodcraft kits." I even taught myself HTML from a For Dummies book and built a website back when it was considered a little bit "fancy" to have one! When we finally settled back in Deniliquin, everything changed. We lost our home and my entire business in a house fire.

For a long time, I stepped away from art completely. Life moved forward, I helped my husband grow his construction business and focused on family. A little over two years ago, after a breast cancer diagnosis, art quietly found me again. During recovery, I picked up a paintbrush just to fill the time, to make something beautiful for our walls and I haven't stopped since. That moment reignited a spark and helped me rediscover the joy and stillness that only creating brings. Since then, I've found my expressive voice one that's unmistakably mine. My passion for teaching remains strong and when the time is right, I'll return to sharing my knowledge. Though I've been painting for nearly fifty years, in many ways, it feels like I'm only just beginning.

What is your inspiration or where do you find inspiration?

Inspiration is everywhere! In the tilt of a dog's head, the gum trees on my morning walk, or the laughter of kookaburras by the river. It's in the birds that chatter and sing in my yard at dawn and dusk, in milestones and in simple, fleeting moments. Sometimes it's sparked by a colour or a memory, sometimes by a feeling that refuses to be ignored. Whatever form it takes, inspiration shows up in the imperfect series of brushstrokes that speak louder than words ever could.

Where did you learn your craft?

Art has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I began painting and creating as a child and continued through senior high school, where I first learned the core principles of art and had the freedom to experiment and explore my own ideas. Later, I took informal folk art classes at a community college, and that's where I discovered my love of acrylics and the power and reliability of brushstrokes. From there I travelled widely, learning from talented teachers and amazing friends through countless workshops and years of hands-on practice.

Over time, experimentation and curiosity became my greatest teachers. These days, living in a regional town, the wealth of knowledge available online has become a huge advantage, allowing me to keep learning and growing no matter where I am. My craft has evolved alongside me, shaped by both formal learning and a lifetime of creating.

Why is handmade artistry so important to you? 

Gosh, I don't think I've ever singled that out before, I've really never had to. It's my soul. It's who I am. It's not about money or things; it's about the process. It's about getting lost in that magical, soul-feeding world I couldn't live without. It's like that saying, "Lose yourself in what you love and you will find yourself there too." It's about the knowledge, the learning and the quiet pride that comes from being able to make something myself. It runs through every part of my life, from painting to decorating to gardening, where I propagate all my own plants. Handmade artistry brings a deep sense of satisfaction, happiness and fulfilment. It's every brushstroke. It's every breath.

Penny is a much loved member of the MadeIt Collective, posting regularly in our Facebook Group ~ The Handmade Marketplace of Australia ~ and sharing their new creations as they are released. If you haven't connected with Penny Apple Studio, make sure you join our FB Group and say hi !