Florist’s Detour to the Greengrocer

I was drawn to these ornamental cabbages precisely because they’re a little odd. Lush and layered like roses, but veined and leafy like something from the vegetable garden. I liked the tension between those two things and I wanted the painting to hold onto that contradiction without smoothing it over too much.

The palette is soft and cool - mainly greys, greens, and pale creams - so the structure of the plants could take the lead. I used acrylic, layering slowly to get a sense of fullness in the leaves and petals without it becoming too heavy. The jug, with its scalloped sides and swan-neck handle, was chosen for its shape more than its personality.

I tried to keep the composition clean and deliberate. There’s a slight tilt to the flowers that makes them feel like they’re caught mid turn: alive, but not animated. The wooden floor, wall panelling and soft grey wall all serve to stage the subject without fuss. It’s a painting about form and stillness more than emotion.

If anything, I think it says: these strange blooms are enough on their own. No symbolism required.

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Sue Roberts trained at the Cambridge College of Art and Technology, where she received a Diploma in Visual Art before moving to London to work as an illustrator and graphic designer.

After relocating to Sydney with her husband and young family, Sue stepped away from professional practice for a time. When she returned to the studio, it was with a renewed focus and a commitment to further study. She completed diplomas in painting and printmaking at Hornsby TAFE, followed by a Bachelor of Fine Art Sculpture from the National Art School in Sydney.

Working fluidly between painting and sculpture, she has been widely exhibited and is held in private and institutional collections. Her accolades include the Kooindah Waters Acquisitive Sculpture Prize and the CCAT Travel Scholarship. She has been recognised across a range of juried exhibitions, including the UWS Sculpture Exhibition, Sculpture in the Vineyards and the Ewart Art Prize.

Through shifts in geography, disciplines and life stage, Sue has continued to follow a central thread: an enduring fascination with landscape - not just as subject, but as memory, emotion and elemental force.

Much of Sue’s practice is grounded in close observation of the natural world - echoing the contrasting topographies of both hemispheres: her early years in the rolling hills of northern Englands Lake District to the bold and often rugged forms of the Australian bush. Acrylic is her primary medium, though she moves fluidly between materials, allowing each piece to dictate its own process.