Salon Rouge Gallery (The): Ron views the exhibition in the Mid North region of South Australia

Advertising in its many forms is often about transformation and not surprisingly it was a former advertising company art director, Jacqueline Coates who managed to transform an old garage into what is now Salon Rouge Gallery at Kapunda.

Across town in another reclaimed building, this one an old barn, which Jacqueline has transformed into a unique living arts space. It's where Jacqueline now holds art classes. The backstreet barn and garage gallery are a long way from the regular commutes over Sydney's Harbour Bridge to high-powered boardroom meetings and photo shoots. But an assignment in Adelaide lead her to this picture postcard piece of South Australia where she could indulge her passion for art - particularly big colourful paintings of flowers.

Jacqueline Coates, Artist: "I dreamt about it one night when I used to work in advertising, I dreamt about painting huge seven foot canvases … I dreamt about these huge red roses and one night I event dreamt about a diva singing inside of this huge velvety red rose."

No diva the day we dropped into Salon Rouge but instead a piano recital by friend and fellow artist Lil Jedynak, as Jacqeline set about capturing the essence of another flower arrangement - this time a vase of tulips.

In her studio sit landscapes of the patchwork quilt that is the Kapunda countryside. It captivated legendary South Australian author Colin Thiele - who immortalised scenes like these in his novel "Sun on the Stubble". As a child - living in Sydney - Jacqueline Coates read of a South Australian landscape so very different to her own, and it would stay with her.

Jacqueline Coates, Artist: "I used to dream about a landscape like this as a child. I used to fly over a landscape which was very much a patchwork of these kind of fields and when you drive up over Kanunga Hill for example you have this big reveal of these gorgeous hills and these different colours and I felt very much a sense of deja vu."

Today the rolling hills of Colin Thiele country around Kapunda offer endless inspiration and for a once career driven Sydney-sider who took time out to smell the roses.

The Salon Rouge Gallery is located in Carrington Street, Kapunda and is open from Wednesday through to Sunday.

The Salon Rouge Gallery
Carrington Street
Kapunda
Open Wednesday to Sunday
Contact 0412 587 438.

Published 30th August 2009