February 9, 2021
This body of work celebrates the freedom of post lockdown with beautiful blooms discovered at Sam Michelle‘s favourite florists and nurseries around Melbourne. These flowers are mixed with others from Sam’s garden. In lockdown one, Sam cleared out vast spaces in her garden to make room for flowers she was growing from seed. Sam has taken a particular interest in the challenge of painting detailed, intricate flowers, such as the bearded iris.
Fast forward to lockdown two, Sam has a blooming garden of peonies, poppies, billy buttons, cornflowers, cosmos, nigella along with a range of hydrangeas, dahlias, Japanese anemones & sunflowers which are interspersed throughout this collection of paintings. The Elegance of Spring honours the intoxicating capacity of a flower to remind us to slow down and appreciate the beauty around us.
