Louise Donovan is a Melbourne-based printmaker recognised for her expressive drypoint etchings that capture an immediate and deeply personal response to the world around her. Working directly onto the plate, Donovan’s process is instinctive and tactile, allowing each line, scratch, and burnished surface to retain the energy of the moment in which it was created.
Her work is inspired by subjects that simply resonate with her — whether found in the city or the countryside. Farm animals, shifting landscapes, cathedral facades, ageing structures, and particularly trees encountered along roadsides, in city parks, or across regional Victorian farmland all become recurring points of connection within her practice. Through printmaking, Donovan transforms observation into feeling, creating works that are organic, atmospheric, and alive with gesture.
A master of drypoint, Donovan embraces the rawness and integrity of the medium. The physicality of scratching into the plate and the immediacy of the inking process remain visible within the final work, giving each piece a sense of movement and presence. Her prints celebrate the overlooked and the everyday, elevating ordinary moments through sensitivity, texture, and mark-making.
Donovan has exhibited extensively, including exhibitions such as Here & There (2023) and Stories II (2021), where her works continued to explore themes of place, temporality, memory, and human connection to the structures and landscapes that surround us.
