Didi LaBaysse is a French-born artist based in Kuranda, Australia who draws inspiration from her travels. She perfected her silk painting techniques under a French designer in Melbourne and incorporates Polynesian sun printing techniques. Her art studio in Coondoo Street produces vibrant, abstract, and tactile paintings using a palette knife. Didi's colorful silk designs were featured in Australian tourism promotions and her art has been collected internationally. Living in the rainforest provides ongoing inspiration for Didi's work across many mediums.

1. It never ceases to
amaze, the calibre of artist
profession that emerges
from Kuranda. Didi La
Baysse is Coondoo Street
based and showcases yet
another treasure chest of
loot plucked from her much
travelled past. French born, Didi brings a well-
earned multi-cultural energy into her varied
mediums. Although immigration to Australia
as a child has influenced Didi in her works, her
subsequent travels to Tahiti and France have also
left a note of lingering ancestral impressions.
Didi perfected her silk painting under special guidance from
French textile designer Marie-France Frater in Melbourne
back in 1989. During this time Didi gained valuable experience
designing original art onto silks and cotton, creating accessories,
haut-couture garments and soft furnishing for interior decor.
Later her textile collection became complimented by unique
Polynesian heliography, also called sun
printing technique on cotton, naturally
picked up from her French Polynesian
origins.
Fine art paintings, produced from
her studio space at her Coondoo street
gallery are a delight. Mostly abstract
contemporary, Didi works in a stylised
manner with bright colours, while
building up the paint which gives one the
notion of “tactile” without the need to
touch! Working with a pallet knife, Didi
has become a creator of humour in her
subjects which has attracted quite an
audience with her works housed in various notable collections
among international movie stars and travellers.
For much of the 1990’s Didi became particularly active in
the arts - Cairns fashion shows paraded regularly, featuring her
collections. The brilliant colour of the painted silks, reflecting the
ambianceandflairofthetropicshasfoundtheirplaceinAustralian
Tourism Commission promotions,
and in local tourism brochures and TV
commercials.Shehasexhibitedextensively
locally, in Cairns, Canberra, Airlie Beach
and down south. Guest Artist positions
on many cruise ships, demonstrating her
artistic skills to passengers, exhibiting,
retailing and featuring fashion shows also
broadened many a horizon.
It is evident that being fortunate in
finding her place in the rainforest, the
tropics is providing much inspiration for
Didi — creating with such vibrant energy
through all of her loved mediums.
Left: The Rainforest Needs Me - acrylic on canvas
Far left: (top) Sun printing on cotton (bottom) Brolgas design painted on silk.
Above: Nude with Yellow Comb - acrylic on canvas
Above right: Happy to Be With You - acrylic on canvas
Didi LaBaysse
Contact: 20 Coondoo Street, Po Box 224, Kuranda, Queensland, Australia 4881 Telephone 07 - 4093 9967 Mobile 0407 22 44 59 Email didi@wandjina.biz www.wandjina.biz