How does margaret olley paint

At the age of 10, Margaret Olley moved to Brisbane where her journey to becoming an artist began. In Olley returned from travelling abroad to the family home in Hill End. Margaret Olley painted in many different styles, but was best known for her still lifes and portraits.

Her lifelong love of nature found expression in exuberant paintings of flora, which charmed the public and the critics. Olley was an important benefactor and tremendous supporter of QAGOMA and her gift of a bronze sculpture of Dancer looking at the sole of her right foot by Edgar Degas is a lasting legacy to the people of Queensland. The exhibition highlights a selection of works she bought then generously gifted to public institutions, including pictures by European artists Paul Cezanne, Pierre Bonnard, Giorgio Morandi, Pablo Picasso, Edouard Vuillard and others.

Her paint was made extra-chunky owing to the cigarettes she ashed on to her palettes. One woman, a refugee lawyer, shudders when she sees a Queenslander home painted by Olley in The painting pops, as if in technicolour. Olley has long been revered in the art scene. Myriad other portraits of Olley by Australian artists exist. Why the gap? Although, interestingly, Margaret had a saying: that rooms reflected the personality of the occupant.

So, in a way, her room paintings are self-portraits. She had been a bit of a drinker in her early adult life, but when she took off to study in Europe, she got seriously depressed. So much so that her friends decided they had to get her home, quick-smart. You know how some people will buy a property, do it up, then sell it for a tidy profit?