Ash Holmes.
Ash Holmes is a Sydney-based artist whose abstract paintings draw inspiration from her surroundings on Guringai Land (Sydney’s Northern Beaches) and her exploration of color psychology. As a self-taught, fourth-generation artist, Holmes channels her creativity naturally, often working intuitively based on impulsive visions or unexpected sources of inspiration.
Her work is characterised by soft, muted tones, layers of oil and acrylic, and gestural mark-making that evoke memory and introspection. Through her large-scale canvases, she creates a sensory connection between the audience and the landscape, using harmonious tones and expressive brushstrokes to narrate her experiences.
Holmes has gained recognition as a finalist in several prestigious awards, including the Mosman Art Prize, Lloyd Rees Memorial Award, and Combat Art Prize. In 2021, she was selected as the resident artist for the Harbord Hotel in Sydney. Her work has been exhibited in sell-out shows and is part of private collections across Australia, New Zealand, US, UK, Denmark, Canada, Singapore, Dubai, Germany, Hong Kong, West Africa, France, Japan, China and Spain.
For more information on Ash Holmes’ upcoming work or current available work please enquire below.
Available Works
To view the works in person or make an enquiry please reach out here.
Previous Works
Select Past Works 2022 - 2025.
2024 - Body Of Waters
‘Body of Waters’ / Ash Holmes
Surrendering all control, allowing the elemental wisdom of water to guide the direction of Ash Holmes’ new body of works, Body of Waters. Water, ever powerful—both fast and slow, formless and free—shapes each canvas. The process began with an accident, a winter flood that soaked fabric and left behind organic marks on the floor. From this serendipity, a new practice was born: fabric and paint immersed in water, draped and fermented over days, leaving behind mysteries on the surface of the canvas. The outcome is always unknown, the final image a reflection of the water’s will.
Each piece in this series emerges from this delicate balance of chance and intention, surrendering to water’s uncontrollable force. Holmes’ works blur the boundary between landscape and abstraction, inviting us to reflect on the fluidity of form and emotion. Like Narcissus gazing into his first mirror, these paintings reflect back something deeper—an invitation to look within and see where we are, emotionally and spiritually.
Water, with its mythical connection to life, birth, and reflection, becomes both the subject and the process. It reminds us of the unpredictable currents of life—beautiful in their imperfection, powerful in their unpredictability. In Body of Waters, Holmes captures the allure of water’s formlessness, letting it transform her canvases into living, breathing works.
- Words by Venn Miles
2023 - Home For A While
The notion of ‘home’ has been an area of reflection Artist Ash Holmes has considered for some time, but especially came to fruition whilst completing her first international Artist in Residency at Saruya Air, Fujiyoshida Japan in June of this year. Being able to detach from her day-to-day routine and materials often used, Holmes found that home was within herself when she was in a state of creativity, that her practice is the grounding force of familiarity and her sense of safety, not her external environment.
Japanese culture often speaks of slowing down, creating intentionally and making with longevity in mind, three pillars that speak true to Holmes’ ten long year practice where she consciously reflects and evolves, painting and creating heavily inspired by landscapes and colour psychology. With fabrics, paints, paper and wood blocks bought from art stores all throughout Japan, this body of work truly honours Holmes’s creativity and her flexibility within her work, and how easily she slips into her sense of home when leaning on her practice.
Through viewing ‘home for a while’, there are nods to ancestry as a fourth generation Artist and the progression of her pieces, stating there is no real start or end point but more so one continuous line of thought and experiences put into canvas, drawing or ceramics. While much of the inspiration for her latest exhibition was dreamt up at Saruya Air, staying in a beautiful 100 year old Japanese house with tatami rooms and an open plan studio below, Holmes finds her work still progressing months after completing her residency and always referring back to what her practice provides, not only herself but others and the world around.
