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Juliet Grace
Salty Nights in Paradise
Acrylic
Salty Nights in Paradise captures the moment you know you’ve arrived in Surfers Paradise. Living just down the road from the Pink Poodle Motel, it became a familiar landmark in my everyday life—its neon glow quietly shaping a lifelong love of colour and light. For my cousins visiting from Toowoomba, however, it was something more. The moment they saw the Pink Poodle, they knew their holiday had begun.
Set in the 1980s, the scene reflects an era when neon lit the coastline and the night held a sense of possibility. Still standing today, the Pink Poodle remains an enduring Gold Coast icon across generations. The Holden Sandman appears again as a symbol of freedom and independence, capturing that feeling of arrival—where the road ends, and something good is just beginning.
Size: 40 × 50 cm
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About Juliet Grace
Juliet Grace is a Gold Coast artist and teacher whose work revives nostalgic memories through her Growing Up Gold Coast collection. A proud Generation X local, she draws on decades of lived experience and archival research to recreate iconic 1970s–80s architecture, much of which no longer exists. Her vibrant colour palettes reflect the era’s neon energy, while subtle Easter eggs reward those who know it well. Juliet was a finalist in the Doyles Art Award in 2023 and 2024, with works featuring the Surfers Paradise Beer Garden and Kirra Pizza Hut.
