Elizabeth Barsham (formerly painting as E.M. Christensen) is an award-winning artist working in Tasmania, Australia's island state.

Have you seen Elizabeth Barsham's new book? Thirty years ago Tasmania's mistress of the strange held her first solo exhibition. To celebrate, she has produced a book of paintings spanning her entire career. This brand new hard-cover book, The Caravan Moves On contains a selection of one hundred photographs of Elizabeth Barsham's stunningly beautiful paintings, with descriptive comments by the artist.   Mail order: Price $54.95 plus $15.00 postage and handling to anywhere within Australia.   Overseas customers:

Interviews with the Artist "Elizabeth Barsham paints incredible scenes combining familiar Tasmanian landscapes with parades of fantastical creatures. ABC Producer Joel Rheinberger asked her when she first put brush to paper" ABC on Soundcloud   Hannah Herrmann-Payn's short documentary Tasmanian Gothic on ABC Open   with Greg Nolan youtube video   with Chris Wisbey Hobart Weekends - ABC Radio

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Excursions and Adventures - new paintings by Elizabeth Barsham

Settlement Day; oil on canvas 66 cm x 97 cm

Settlement Day was just one of the paintings in Elizabeth Barsham's solo exhibition at Freehand Gallery last January. If you missed the exhibition, you can still see the paintings here.

Excursions and Adventures - paintings

download exhibition catalogue (pdf file)

Interview with The Green Widow on Necromancy Gothic Radio 9 January 2017

Elizabeth's uniquely imaginative oil paintings are an emotional expression of her ancestral connection to the landscape and its people. Often based on old family photographs, they feature mysterious figures against a backdrop of rugged mountains, impenetrable forest and crumbling buildings in an unsettling but hauntingly beautiful mixture of nostalgia, gothic romanticism and humour.

A descendant of the first convict settlers, she has also written several books and articles about Tasmanian family history and was the first Tasmanian to publish a book about a convict ancestor (Thomas Burbury, Pioneer of Tasmania by E.M. Christensen and W. Sinclair, Victoria, 1979).

Barsham does not dwell on lurid details of the colonial penal system but admires the determination and fortitude shown by pioneering men and women who endured terrible hardships in creating the townships, farms and industries enjoyed today. She is passionate about the need to explore and record what traces remain of their lives, while protecting both the natural and built environment.

Song of the Mill, 58 cm x 41 cm acrylic on paper, was my contribution to Metamorphosis, an international exhibition at the annual Ripattoni Art Festival in Italy. More information: Gotico Visonaria blog

After the Mine, oil on canvas, 91 cm x 91 cm, was a finalist in the 2015 Glover Prize, Australia's richest prize for landscape painting. more pictures