For Keeps

Flowers provide endless inspiration for artist, Craig Waddell.

The life-affirming power of flowers is a driving force for Sydney artist Craig Waddell, whose sumptuous painting The Heartbeat of Silver Light (above) stars on our front cover this month. The 2x1.8m oil on linen depicts dahlias, peonies, chocolate cosmos and roses in sensuous swirls of thick paint. But naming the blooms isn’t the important thing. “I just love looking at the forms and arranging them in beautiful compositions,” says Craig.

This work was part of a 2016 exhibition titled Into The Skin, held at Melbourne’s Nicholas Thomson Gallery. The show was a sell-out, but this piece was not for sale: Craig realised he couldn’t part with it, so gifted it to his wife, Jessie. It now hangs in their home, a warehouse conversion in Sydney’s inner west. “It greets us as we walk in the door.” Craig Waddell; www.craigwaddell.com or @craigwaddellartist.