About Penny

Penny MacLaren resides in the beautiful Adelaide Hills in South Australia, and spends much of her time in her beloved studio. She has a Bachelor of Education (Fine Arts), and in 2008 completed a Graduate Diploma of Social Sciences (Counselling). For many years, Penny was a high school art teacher, including moderating the final work for both Visual Art Studies and Art Practical for SACE (SSABSA). She was also the SACE examiner for art history for 8 years.

When creating her pieces, she draws on her love of people, animals, and the environment as inspiration for her artwork. Although she uses a range of mediums, she mainly specialises in drawing and painting, and her pastel works have been extremely popular for commissions. She now has commissioned work in private collections all over the world, including England, Japan, Italy, Norway, the Middle East, and Australia.

Competitions:

Finalist in the Portrait Award - Royal South Australian Art Society 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019

Finalist in the Solar Art prize (wildlife) 2017, 2018, 2019. In 2019 was awarded both the People’s Choice and the Hangers Prize.

Finalist in the 160 Anniversary Art show for Royal South Australian Art society 2016

Finalist in the Characters of the Fleurieu Exhibition Signal Point Gallery Goolwa 2016

Finalist in the Goolwa Art and Photography Exhibition 2016

Salt of the Earth Exhibition, RSASA - Merit Award 2015

Portrait demonstration RSASA- Portrait of Chris Kourakis (Chief Justice), bought by the High Court for public display 2015

Inglis Equine International Art Competition- Finalist.

Mortimore Art Exhibition- Finalist.

Archibald Prize- Participant 2009, 2011.

Heysen Prize- Honourable mention 2002.

Blackwood Rotary Art Show- Highly commended 1987, 1988.

2014 Glenelg Art Gallery joint exhibition with Barbara Shepard - China Painter

SA Royal Art Society - Finalist in 2022 and 2024 (biannual)

Solar Art Show - Finalist in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Solar Art Prize (Wildlife division) - Winner in 2023

Aussie Animal Sanctuary Prize - Winner in 2024

Gallery One, Mitcham - Finalist (Self Portrait) in 2024 and 2025

Artist Conclave, Canada (online competition) - Finalist in 2024 (Portrait of Clare) and in 2025 (Self Portrait)

Light Space and Time, New York (online art gallery) - Finalist in 2025 (oil painting of rooster named Mr Dent, ‘Gooood morning’).

Winter exhibition, RSASA - Hangers Prize and Merit Award in 2025 (‘Migration’, oil)

Portraits of Note:

Chief Justice Chris Kouakis (sold)

Senator Frances Bedford (sold)

The late Robert Kennedy, entrepreneur (sold)

Cicely Bungey, Founder of Landcare in SA (sold)

View fullsize Beautiful Golden Retriever pastel portrait of an old girl and her much younger male partner . Sadly both now have passed. A privilege to have been commissioned to capture the memory of these two very special dogs. Please enjoy. #goldenretrieverworld
View fullsize A blast from the past! Won my division in the Solar Art Prize with this modern rendering of a Rhino. 2024. Subject was from Monarto Zoo in South Australia. Art work is a drawing using oil paint sticks!!! Solar art prize is run each year with prizes b
View fullsize My portrait of the late Robert Kennedy which he kindly bought. He hung it in his office which really honoured me. The Kennedy art prize is on now in Adelaide and worth a look. Thank you Bob for your support. A truely kind man who has left a legacy in
View fullsize Grazing Bison study. Monarto Safari Park SA. Such a peaceful scene. Such big animals. Small art work done in mixed media. Charcoal and conte. #conservation #wildlife #wildlifeartist #wildlifeart #wildlifeartistsoninstagram #charcoal #charcoalartist #
View fullsize Chasing dreams. An old painting I thought I would share. It’s of our two Burmese cats, male and female. Great cats. Inspired in part by my love of Japanese art. It uses paint almost as a drawing over a very limited palette. I do cat portraits
View fullsize Reposting as I just won a Merit award with this oil painting 30x28cm approximately at the Royal South Australian Society of Art. It is still available for sale. If your in Adelaide it is an interesting exhibition from the members. Worth a look and t
View fullsize Reposting because of great news to share. Migration has won the Hangers prize and a merit award at the Winter exhibition at the Royal south Australian Society of Arts. It is sold but my other painting is still available. The exhibition is on line if
View fullsize Another modern but simple wildlife study. Would look very colourful in a child’s room. Zebras are so great. This is a large work currently not framed easy to post and priced accordingly. Please go to website for details if you are interested in