WINTER NATIVE

Michael Reid Northern Beaches

AUGUST 2021

Working through the late Autumn and Winter to produce this body of work I began with collecting the best examples of native flora that I could get my hands on. Winter produces such a bounty of heart-stopping dramatic native flora and I excitedly set up still life arrangements in my studio to showcase these extraordinary flowers. Working directly from life I pare back the arrangement to just the natives, the vessel and their shadows, to shine the spotlight on the extraordinary shapes and colours in front of me.

Growing up in the UK I had never seen anything like the Australian native flora until I moved here and I was immediately fascinated by the strong graphic forms and unique hues. When I work I’m saying to the viewer, have you seen how amazing these are - look at the colours, the shapes, they are so weird and yet exquisitely beautiful!

As Winter progressed we found ourselves locked down in Sydney again and I found a shift in my focus occurred. I needed to look to the outside world and so I turned my attention to landscapes inspired by all of the bush walks we suddenly found ourselves taking!

The landscapes take form in my studio and rather than working from life I use photos for reference and rely on memory and intuition as the work unfolds. Working in oil pastel, I don’t erase or rub out ‘mistakes’, I try not to overwork and rarely overlay colours, preferring to place colours side by side. My botanical studies and landscapes are contemporary depictions of familiar native Bush motifs.