Autumn Nights at the Bowlo

Autumn Nights at the Bowlo is a new body of work by North Coast artist Leona DeBolt. Her practice is driven by an expressive energy, grounded in curiosity and a commitment to experimentation.

Working primarily on canvas, DeBolt explores non-traditional materials to build richly layered, textured, and playful surfaces. Guided by instinct and an openness to process, she continuously reworks each piece until it reaches a sense of balance. Her paintings emerge through this intuitive dialogue, where spontaneity and intention exist in equal measure.

Drawn to abstracted portraiture, DeBolt constructs her figures through layered applications of acrylic, oil, enamel, raw pigment, pastel, and charcoal. Her work moves fluidly between control and release, embracing uncertainty as an essential part of the process and allowing each piece to unfold organically over time.

Set against the gentle rhythm of Wooli’s coastline, DeBolt’s latest series, Autumn Nights at the Bowlo draws on memories of holidays spent with friends—those treasured autumn evenings along the narrow strip between river and ocean, where the sound of waves mingles with the distant hum of a band at the local bowlo.

These portraits capture a cast of characters gathered at a fibro fishing shack, suspended in the quiet in-between of dusk as the sun slips below the horizon. Tinny in hand, they linger in easy conversation, where fleeting moments take on a quiet significance and the everyday is rendered enduring.

To register your interest, please email: sophienolan@michaelreid.com.au