Description

My painting Peony Flower Still Life painting was inspired by the wonderful work of Margaret Olley.

MARGARET OLLEY

Margaret Olley was born in Lismore, New South Wales.

She held her first exhibition at the Macquarie Galleries in Sydney in 1948, and exhibited in more than 90 solo exhibitions in all main cities in the country for more than 60 years.

SUBJECT MATTER

Olley was a painter of still life. She was absorbed by the interior world.

Flowers were everything to her. “To me they are like living people. I love them.”

Olley lived permanently in Sydney from about 1980 and her Paddington house was a cornucopia of delight. An organised clutter of colourful objects, furniture and art, her own and that of others. People would refuse her offer of food or coffee due to the messiness of her house.

She was a bowerbird who collected visually interesting found objects. “I am the original bag lady,” she once said.

Margaret said “I’ve never liked housework.  If the house looks dirty, buy another bunch of flowers”.

AFTER MARGARET

Olley loved to paint and continued almost up to the day she died in 2011.

Part of Olley’s Paddington house, well known for its items that the painter collected and used as subject matter for her art, described as “her lifelong installation” has been recreated at the Tweed River Art Gallery, an area not far from where the artist was born.

PHILANTHROPY

On 13 July 2006 she donated more works to the Art Gallery of New South Wales; her donations included more than 130 works worth $7 million.  Margaret was also a generous supporter of younger artists, in particular Ben Quilty.

I hope my homage to Margaret Olley, Peony Flower Still Life painting is adequate.