Marlon McKinnon

I am a self-taught artist that works in oil paint as well as graphite, charcoal, ink, watercolour, and gouache. Although I have dabbled in digital art, I would describe myself as a traditional artist. I have a Filipino-Australian background and I was born in Geraldton, Western Australia but I have lived in Melbourne the majority of my life. 

Around late 2023 I wrote myself a roadmap to getting better at art and started going to life drawing at Hawthorn Artist Society. There I have met many encouraging and like-minded artists and have been going ever since and I’ve gotten more involved in the Melbourne art scene as a whole. It started as a challenge to myself to improve consistently while also having fun. I mostly like to learn from books and I’m an avid collector (or borrower) of anatomy, painting or drawing reference, and master works. 

Many artists inspire me but the works of John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, and Joaquín Sorolla are who I aspire to the most. The way they capture the beauty of light and form in their portraits and landscapes are what I’m looking to recreate in my work.
I’m exploring what painting means to me, how all my experiences and inspirations come together on a canvas.

I am delighted to have been selected as VAS Hansen Little Coterie 2026. And more recently I’m excited to be dropping the “self-taught” moniker as I have completed a term in Monotype with Marketa Kemp and I will undergo oil painting classes with Fiona O'Byrne at Victorian Artist Society, and Painting the Figure with Joe Whyte at Hawthorn Artist Society.