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Artist Sigrid Patterson resides and works in the picturesque Byron Bay hinterland with views over the iconic lighthouse from her house. The rolling hills, the endless beaches and the native flora and fauna form her natural surroundings and are the source of her inspiration.
Sigrid Patterson at work in her studio
“I live on acreage which is old farm land. We have been creating a native garden here and now I paint the plants that surround me. We have a huge collection of banksias, and every colour and shape of bottle brush.”
Funky little banksia men | 40 x 51cm | Acrylic on linen
“[Australian flora] is quirky. There are so many different elements. In banksias, for example, the patterns are incredible. I do like the exotic flowers too, but these have had a lot of mileage,” Sigrid said about her fascination with Australian native plants. “In the Australian native plants, it is also the leaves. I love that blueish, green colour of the bush.”
Que sera sera | 76 x 76cm | Acrylic on linen
“My art forms in my head from an idea that hasn’t fully taken shape yet. Nothing is executed,” Sigrid described. “I often have a story at this stage, but the ideas and details come to me while I paint.”
“I don’t sketch, I paint straight away. There seems to be something for me to resolve; an idea, a need to be innovative. I never have a battle with my paintings. It is all rather meditative for me.”
The bounty | 95 x 95cm | Acrylic on linen
Sigrid’s paintings are thematically strong and bold in colour. At first glance, the canvases might seem straight forward with their figurative motifs but hide complexity and narratives, a series of stories that are told through the imagery.
Her recent big, dark, floral still-life’s tell a story of the disconnect of our contemporary society from the traditional, indigenous way of living on the land and how that disconnect is culminating in devastating bushfires and the loss of species and habitat. The flowers in the paintings are placed in old colonial tea pots, in lead glass vases, or an art deco uranium glass jug. The juxtapositioning of the vases against the chosen flowers tell a story from the current mining practices to responsible farming, from the dichotomy of modern Australia to the resilience to survive in this space.
Life in a beaker | 46 x 56cm | Acrylic on linen
“Sometimes a bunch of flowers means so much more than merely the visual object in my paintings. Then again, sometimes I paint it simply because it is beautiful.”
This passion and involvement are apparent in the process of painting. Sigrid chooses bold oil impasto paintings for their expressive qualities. She revels in the senses of being quite tactile, being physically part of the painting almost to the point of the painting becoming three dimensional through the brushstrokes and the application of paint.
Plucked into obscurity | 45 x 55cm | Acrylic on linen
For Sigrid, art means expression. She sees art in nearly everything; some provocative, some delicate and striking. Art appeals to the human emotions and senses and no two humans ever see an object the same. “Even when we don’t recognise things as art, it is art. Absolutely crucial art.”
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