“Absolutely amazing”: the Canberra connection to this year’s Sydney Affordable Art Fair

Posted on 20 October, 2026

If you happen to find yourself at this year’s Affordable Art Fair in Sydney, keep an eye out for the image decorating the banners and posters.

The work is by Canberra-based artist Bridie O’Brien, who says finding out her art would be the hero image was “absolutely amazing.”

“It was such a shock to be chosen; I got an email from the Affordable Art Fair saying that they had decided at their big meeting in London that they wanted to go with Bridie O’Brien’s painting, ‘Moonlighting as a Vagabond’ as the hero image,” Bridie recalls.

The Affordable Art Fair Sydney brings together 75 galleries from across the country and beyond, offering a mix of original contemporary art, from emerging talent to established favourites.

For the last few years, Bridie has been exhibiting her work at the Fair with two of her friends, under the banner of Velvet Room Gallery.

This year, Bridie opened her email to the news that her work would be the face of the Sydney Fair.

“I got the email, and was like ‘Wow, what does that mean?’, so I called my friend Pav, who said to me, ‘That’s the hero image – it’s going to be flying in the streets of Sydney, up and down George Street on the flags and it’ll be the face of the Affordable Art Fair’,” Bridie explains.

“I thought that was super cool, especially because they went with a Canberra artist.”

Moonlighting as a Vagabond is a more abstract and playful style of work compared to what Bridie normally does.

Moonlighting as a Vagabond

The piece came about at a time when Bridie was doing a series of seascape works.

“It was inspired by my motorcycle rides – I’ve got this beautiful Triumph T100 Motorcycle and I love just taking a sketchpad and my phone camera,” Bridie shares.

“I take the highway from Canberra to Berry and I just love chasing cliff edges, shifting swirls and whatever light leaks throughout the day.”

“Being on the motorcycle allows a certain freedom to quickly explore the dusty coastal tracks – it is quite remarkable seeing these strange and pretty coves just appear out of nowhere.”

The scene that inspired ‘Moonlighting as a Vagabond’ was a little cove, somewhere near the Huskisson region, where the ocean seemed almost “cartoon-like”.

“The ocean was like sea-foam green on steroids and it was so beautiful. My photo reference didn’t do it justice, but like most of my paintings, I take the memory of being there and seeing it with my own eyes and then try to recreate the sense of being there in my art,” Bridie says.

After soaking up the location, Bridie headed home, keen to start work on the painting.

“I’m a purist – so pure oil paint on the palette, mix my colours, and I get a nice big palette knife and then I just sort of sculpt the artwork in one session,” Bridie explains.

“I was trying to capture the temperature, and the wind and that brilliant green and then when I felt like there was enough magic running through it, I put it to the side and let it dry for about four to six weeks.”

Bridie hasn’t always been a full-time artist, although she’s always dabbled in the creative visual arts.

“I went full time in 2020, but I’ve spent my entire life making a creative living. I was a professional guitar player for most of my adult life, and I actually still teach guitar weekly here in Canberra,” Bridie says.

“The big turning point for me was the pandemic, when all of my musical endeavours had gone offline, and the world had this dark cloud over it, so I decided to explore my old sketchbooks and start painting again.”

Having always wanted a creative life, Bridie was keen to go all in and learn as much as she could in those early days.

“Rather than making it a hobby and dabbling – because the world was so uncertain and I wasn’t sure how I would make a living again with my music – I decided to present professionally early on,” Bridie recalls.

“That means I bought the best materials I could, I was working seven days a week, self-studying, making sure my website was extremely professional and user-friendly so I could present professionally while learning to get better.”

The work paid off, with Bridie’s work becoming popular with international audiences.

With a growing demand for her work, Bridie entered the National Capital Art Prize, being named a finalist in just her second year of painting.

At the end of the second year, Bridie was a finalist in the Paddington Art Prize, which helped push her to keep studying, practicing and painting non-stop.

As for what’s next? Bridie is keen to keep enjoying the creative wave.

“I’m not sure what’s in the future; I plan on just working hard and then who knows? If something amazing happens, I’ll gracefully accept that,” Bridie says.

“But if it just sort of plateaus here, and it’s just this life of making landscape paintings and making people joyful and happy, then I’d be more than happy with that life too.”

Images supplied.