About

Alana Manning is a Sydney-based artist painting the coastline that put her back together.

Why I started painting

I've spent fifteen years working in web design and the tech industry, most of it behind a screen. A few years ago I left a grey Melbourne winter behind, chasing better weather and time close to family.

What helped me heal from a chronic health condition was the ocean. Cold morning swims at Wylie's Baths became my reset button, and painting them became a new chapter alongside the design work I still do.

I took private painting lessons to properly learn the craft, and started with the places I actually swam. People began asking to buy them.

Get in touch

The Art

My Journey

  • Background

    Fifteen years in web design and the tech industry. Looking for something to feed my creativity and calm my nervous system.

  • The move

    Left a Melbourne winter behind, chasing better weather and time near family. Sydney, and the ocean, became home.

  • Learning to paint

    Cold morning swims at Wylie's Baths became a daily reset while managing a chronic health condition. Private lessons followed, then a Diploma of Visual Arts to properly ground the technique, alongside a first body of work centred on the pools and beaches I actually swam at.

  • Selling and showing

    First originals sold. First market stall at Maroubra Beach, then Heffron Park, meeting people in person and hearing about their own beach, not just mine.

  • Today

    Painting coastal landscapes and native flowers in oils from home in Coogee, taking a handful of commissions each season, and still returning to Bermagui, where the pull toward the coast started long before Sydney.

Everyone has a landscape or beach that's theirs

I paint Sydney's ocean pools, coastal light and the early-morning rituals that happen there, Wylie's, Bronte, Mahon Pool, Murray Rose, along with the beaches of Bermagui and the NSW far south coast, where I grew up.

"Everyone has a beach that's theirs. I paint mine, hoping it helps you find yours."

Sydney Originals

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