Flowers are emblematic of beauty, across culture and throughout history. This exhibition is about my painting and gardening practice. They are paintings of the flowers I grow from seed and the compositions I design in my garden beds. I have tried to stylise nature in my Petersham backyard and in my art, creating a colour allegory of my own, in paint and in the soil.A primary influence has been Marianne North, a Victorian-era oil painter and explorer who travelled the British Empire painting in situ. Her practice, like mine, was about art and the study of nature. Her gallery at Kew Gardens remains a unique example of a 19th century salon, and it has influenced how this exhibition was conceived. The colour language of the modernist garden painters Emil Nolde and Claude Monet have influenced my palette. The compositional elements and filigree styles of 16th-century French tapestries and Northern Renaissance alter pieces are referenced to imbue my flowers with drama and personality. This exhibition includes watercolours on paper, as well as oil paintings on canvas and board. The large oil paintings are compositions I’ve constructed using watercolours, drawings and photos as reference material. They are painted in the thin to fat method over a six-month period. The smaller works are views of my flower beds and pots in full bloom, begun in situ and developed in the studio. Please join me for the launch of Full Bloom Tea House, from 12pm to 6pm, on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th of September. We will serve traditional Devonshire Tea, in honour of Garden Tea Houses everywhere and in memory of the very fine day I spent at Chelsea Physics Garden in the summer of 2018. Newsagency Gallery is located at 332 Stanmore Rd Petersham
OIL Painting WallWatercolour Wall
Lonely Poppy 20x20cm oil on linen board $220 SOLDWall Flower Triptych #2 30x50cm oil on canvas $600 SOLDPoppy Line-Up 40x30cm oil on canvas $550Potted Pink Daisies 35x30cm oil on canvas $400Pink Dahlia with Snap Dragons 50x35cm oil on canvas $650 SOLDChelsea Garden 50x30cm oil on canvas $600 SOLDNasturtium in shade 30x30cm oil on board $350Flower ’n’ Strawberry Cascade 25x25cm oil on canvas $350 SOLDChantilly Snapdragon 20x20cm oil on canvas $250 SOLDGiant Face Petunias 25x25cm oil on canvas $350 SOLDSnapdragon line-up 20x20cm oil on canvas $250 SOLDScarlet Snapdragon 20x20cm oil on canvas $250Big Kiss Gazania 25x25cm oil on board $300Potted Viola 25x25cm oil on canvas $350 29 Viola Cascade 45x35cm oil on canvas $500 SOLDLittle Blue Isotoma Stars 25x30cm oil on canvas $400 SOLDHolly Hock Altar Piece 91x61cm oil on canvas $2200English Lavender 61x76cm oil on canvas $1200 SOLD‘Viola Cascade’ A3 watercolour on 220gsm paper $200 SOLD Russian Sunflowers’ 59x42cm watercolour on 300 gsm paper $300 SOLD‘Sweet Flower Bed’ 15x21cm watercolour on 220gsm $120 SOLD‘Orange Snapdragon’ A4 watercolour on 300gsm paper $180 ‘Sweet Pink Daisy and Calibrachoa Bed’ 15x21cm watercolour on 220gsm paper $120‘Sweet Camellia Buds’ A4 watercolour on 180gsm paper $80‘Sweet Dianthus’ 21x15cm watercolour on 220gsm handmade paper $120‘Sweet Gazania’ 21x15cm watercolour on 220gsm paper $120‘Gerbera’ watercolour on 220gsm 18x25cm $80poppy + Pink Daisy Bed A4 watercolour on handmade paper 300gsm $150 SOLD ‘Dahlias’ watercolour on 300gsm handmade paper $150 SOLD‘Heritage Garden Bunya Trunks’ A2 watercolour on 300gsm paper $250 SOLD‘Heritage Garden Wyoming’ watercolour on A4 300gsm $250 SOLD‘Wyoming Heritage Garden’ watercolour on A3 300gsm $200‘Yellow Jonquils in the sun’ 18x25cm watercolour on 220gsm paper $80Wyoming Heritage Garden” 18x25cm watercolour on 300gsm paper $120
Wall Flower Triptych 1 25x25cm oil on canvas $350 SOLDDaisy Cascade 25x25cm oil on canvas $350Sleeping Beauty 20x25cm oil on canvas NFS SOLDWall Flower Triptych #3 30x30cm oil on canvas $350 SOLDGerbera ’n’ Marigold Cascade 25x25cm oil on board $300 SOLDPetunias ’n’ Pompom Marigolds 30x40cm oil on canvas $600 SOLDGazania with Holly Hock leaves 20x20cm oil on linen board $250Marigold ’n’ Petunia Cascade 25x25cm oil on canvas $350Yellow Dahlia 20x20cm oil on linen board $250 SOLDPink ’n’ Purple Cascade 25x25cm oil on board $400 SOLDPotted Viola 25x25cm oil on board $400 SOLDDelphinium ’n Daisy Cascade 40x50cm oil on board $800 SOLDPotted Petunias 20x20cm oil on canvas $250 SOLDTangerine Marigold 20x20cm oil on linen board $220 SOLDPotted Coral Pea 40x40cm oil on canvas $700 SOLDZinnia and White Petunia field 50x70cm oil on canvas $1700 SOLDRussian Sunflowers 91x61cm oil on canvas $1500Shaded Nasturtiums 60x40cm oil on board $850 SOLD‘Viola Bed’ A3 watercolour on 300gsm handmade paper $200Petunia + Marigold Bed A3 watercolour on 300gsm $200 SOLD‘Viola Bed’ A3 watercolour on 180gsm paper $120 SOLD White Petunia Bed A3 watercolour on 300gsm paper $200‘Russian Sunflower’42x59cm water colour on 300gsnm paper $300 SOLD‘Sweet Calibrachao Bed’ 21x15cm watercolour on 220gsm handmade paper $120‘Sweet Calibrachoa bed’ 21x15cm watercolour on 220gsm handmade paper $120‘Sweet Zinnia Bed’. 21x15cm watercolour on hand made 220gsm paper $120Sweet Poppy Bed 21x15cm watercolour on handmade 220gsm paper $120 SOLD‘Poppy longlegs’ A4 watercolour on handmade 300 gsm paper $150 SOLD‘Hollyhock’ A3 watercolour on handmade 300gsm paper $250‘Marigold and Petunia Bed’ 18x25cm watercolour on 300gsm paper $120‘Poppy twist’ A4 watercolour on 300gsm handmade paper $150 SOLDPoppy Cascade A4 $200 SOLD‘Agapanthus and Heritage Pine Trees’ A2 watercolour on 300gsm paper $250 SOLD
The Wall
About the Artist: Bess O’Malley is an artist based in Petersham, NSW. She has a BA and an MA (art) from COFA, graduating in 1993. Aside from working in her studio and her garden, since 2000 she was co-founder of the public art group “Hotbed Designs”, creating public art to educate urban communities about their backyard ecosystems. In 2012, Bess established the artist-run space “Newsagency Gallery”, supporting more than 100 emerging and mid-career artists to develop and exhibit their work. Her work has been exhibited in Australia and overseas and is included in private collections and academic transcripts.
