The work of Amalia Alegria-Wolfe reflects not only her burgeoning love of the Australian landscape but also embodies the cultural influence of her life in Latin America where she lived until migrating to Australia in 1974.

Though the Australian bush is the inspiration of her work, the brightness of colour is reminiscent of her origins in Latin America where 'colour dances in the streets.' When Alegria-Wolfe lived in Sydney she studied at the National Art School, an institution renown for its strong painting tradition.

In her depictions of a range of scenery and subject matter from the 'wild country' around Tuross Falls to close-ups of gums, she celebrates the colours of the Australian bush.

"I am immersed in a unique landscape - eucalyptus and banksia forests, pink granite boulders with silver-green lichen often split by the frost, and the beautiful Jerrabatgulla Creek with its pools, water falls and mossy surrounds" says Alegria-Wolfe.

Alegria-Wolfe is inspired by the changing subject matter brought on by each new season. Alegria-Wolfe is inspired by how the forms in nature change with each new cycle.

"I look forward to these new cycles, particularly the end of winter, when the gums initiate the shedding of their thick, brittle and dry winter coats exposing the new colourful bark" she says.

Alegria-Wolfe first studied Print Making, Pottery, Life Drawing, Watercolours, Mixed Media at the Waverly-Woollahra Arts Centre, Sydney from 1988-1992. She subsequently spent a year in Latin America, where she attended the Rohrmoser Watercolour Institute, San Jose, Costa Rica, in 1993.

From 1995-1997, she undertook a diploma in Fine Arts at the National Art School in Sydney majoring in painting.

She started exhibiting her work in 1989, with her first solo exhibition at Dangar Island Studio, Hawkesbury River. She was judged the Champion Watercolourist at the Braidwood Show in 2008 and has won private commissions in oils and watercolours in USA, Costa Rica, Sydney and Canberra.

Amalia Alegria-Wolfe From the Outside In opens 6pm on Friday 27 February at Studio Altenburg.