The Central Coast has long been recognised as a region of extraordinary artistic talent, with our lifestyle and natural beauty attracting and inspiring art, design and creative practitioners and professionals.

This weekend, Gosford Regional Gallery opens three new exhibitions by local artists, further strengthening our region’s reputation as a centre for artistic excellence.

Australian artist Jocelyn Maughan was encouraged to draw from an early age, and at fifteen, much to the annoyance of her headmistress, left school to begin five years study at the National Art School. Gosford Regional Gallery’s exhibition An Artist’s Survey presents an exhaustive examination of the subsequent six decades of Maughan’s work, revealing her dedication to form and composition across a variety of mediums.

As an art educator and finalist of both Wynne and Archibald Prizes, Maughan has always delighted in painting and drawing on site, or in plein air.

Her paintings and drawings are not simply pictorial observations, but a detailed understanding of what transformations must take place in the act of composition, or as Maughan likes to put it, an understanding of knowing ‘what to do with it all’.

This careful attention to getting the right composition, often results in numerous reworkings of people and figures.

Tim Braham of Gosford Regional Gallery explained that one of the earliest works featured in the exhibition is a study of construction workers. “This subject matter holds a special fascination for Maughan. She has revisited it many times throughout her career, returning to examine and relentlessly sketch figures of tradesman and labourers,” he said.

With an artist studio at Patonga, Maughan is one of many professional artists who call the Central Coast home, and the private world of the artist studio is the subject of a second exhibition opening Saturday.

Room for Art: 23 Central Coast artists by Helene Rosanove is a photographic essay featuring the creative working spaces of 23 Central Coast artists. Each black and white image reveals the artist’s personality through their tools, space and chosen working environments.

Tim Braham suggests that the romance of the subject matter is matched by a sense of indulgent voyeuristic reveal.

“The exhibition offers a rare insight into the unique and creative characters of many Central Coast artists including Margaret Fortey, Paul Haggith and Janet Hoyer Cobb. As participants in the 5 Lands Art Studios Trail, each artist’s studio is made available to the general public for tours and viewing three times a year.

“The exhibition invites us to trespass behind the closed doors of artists’ workspaces and provides a fascinating glimpse into the intriguing worlds beyond,” he explained.

The third exhibition Indigo Blue is by Maureen Locke-Maclean, also a Central Coast-based artist, who works from her studio ‘The Dyeshack’ at Wamberal.

Locke-Maclean has been fascinated by traditional art forms and culture of Japan for over thirty years. On her first visit to Japan in 1985, she learnt the practices of making and dyeing silk, using natural indigo dye and traditional Shaped Resist Dyeing techniques of ‘Shibori’. She has since become renowned for her use of colour in creating fantastic textile forms and wearable art.

Indigo Blue is a celebration of the indigo dye and traditional ‘Shibori’ techniques, which result in rich and stunning works.

An Artist Survey by Jocelyn Maughan is open from 23 July until 4 September

Room for Art: 23 Central Coast artists by Helene Rosanove is open from 23 July until 11 September

Indigo Blue by Maureen Locke-Maclean is open from 23 July until 17 August