An award-winning Brisbane based artist, Debra is famous for her bright, colourful and loving cityscapes that celebrate the unique Queenslander architecture. Working as an artist for 30 years, Debra's work is in art collections all over the world.
Debra's Story
With 30 years experience as an artist, Debra Hood is a Brisbane local who paints colour-filled Queenslanders surrounded by nature reimagined as explosions of whimsical colour. She specialises in intricate, colourful and detail cityscapes that capture the romantic essence of inner-city Brisbane suburbs.
She began by painting window-framed scenes with near expansive white cloth nappies on a clothesline obscuring the view of the world – a reflection of the struggles of raising three young children and leading an insular domestic life with little time for creativity.
As her children grew, so did her love and appreciation of Queensland architecture, and thus her artwork transformed to be a celebration of domestic life within the beautiful suburbs of Brisbane and the joyful creative challenge of resolving the placement of clashing colours and patterns alongside one another.
Over time, the foliage of her paintings became more dotted, mirroring the Brisbane springtime when the blossoms of Jacaranda, Poinciana, Pink Trumpet and Golden Penda trees fall en masse, like confetti, to create a multicoloured carpet that is today featured in her paintings surrounding the iconic Queenslander houses. Her aim is to bring joy to the viewer, and a sense of childhood nostalgia as they search to find tiny hidden secrets amongst the foliage or daydream about life inside the houses.
Debra is dedicated to her local art community and founded the Southside Art Market in 2016 to give local artists a platform and support. Her work can be spotted on many murals and traffic signal boxes around the city, including the sculptural kookaburra installation at Paddington and, until recently, even a City Cat.
Debra is passionate about preserving Brisbane’s iconic domestic architecture and believes what she calls “bland beige architecture” is changing how we live and engage as a community. Her work is a loving documentation of the variety of Queenslander homes and their charming architectural detail and heritage.
Exhibitions
2023 - Work shown in "Brisbane Three Ways" at Art House Reproductions/Gallery 3 61 as part of Brisbane Art and Design Festival (BAD) - Finalist in the Brisbane Landmarks, Landscapes and Personalities 2023 Exhibition at the Royal Queensland Art Society's Petrie Terrace Gallery
2022 - Work commissioned for the Lord Mayor’s Business Awards Winners' Gifts - Solo show at The Downstairs Gallery, Red Hill - Completed artwork for the Paddington Terraces Village Precinct Project, Kooka! Trail - Works represented by Museum of Brisbane, Queensland State Library, Thousand Island Dressing and Downstairs Gallery
2020 - Completed various public artworks around Brisbane City including traffic signal boxes and murals
2019 - Work commissioned for the Lord Mayor’s Business Awards Winners' Gifts
2016 - Winner of the Brisbane City Council-Citycat Wrap Competition - Art Director of Bulimba Festival - Founded Southside Art Market and Southside Artists Inc. (SASI)
The Debra Hood Art Team
Hayden Johns Personal Assistant, Administration Manager & Chief Dog Cuddler
The team at Debra Hood Art acknowledges the Jagera and Turrbul peoples as traditional owners of the land the beautiful Meanjin/Brisbane city resides. We recognise their connection to land, wind, water and community and pay respects to elders, past, present and emerging. The Meanjin/Brisbane area has such a splendid abundance of nature, and we feel so lucky to be able to capture and share its beauty through art.
