I always look forward to our annual Art Issue. And no matter what, there always seems to be a story that takes me by surprise — this time

it would have to be painter Philip Drummond’s Cessnock garden. Familiar with Philip’s dramatic still-life compositions of Australian native flowers, I was expecting his garden to be filled with gum trees, banksia and grevilleas, not the amazing cactus plants you see on page 90. Even though these plants may not appear on his canvases, Philip’s garden “is like an artwork. A garden is something that evolves and you’re sculpting it the whole time.” It’s also a constant source of inspiration: “It helps me to live and create in my own little universe,” he says. “It’s what I look at when I’m looking out of my studio. On a subliminal level, it affects everything.” Many of the artists in this issue told us how life in the country shaped their work. Macedon Ranges artist Elizabeth Barnett started painting landscapes when she moved from Melbourne — “I’ve only just started painting landscapes since we moved here, and I love to use a lot of colour” — while Castlemaine artist and printmaker David Frazer says his childhood in the little Wimmera town of Murtoa, in north-west Victoria, still echoes in his work today. Just as I’m sure Brigitte May’s watercolour and soft pastel works of whimsical flora and fauna will be influenced by the time she spends living in a cabin on the fringe of South Hobart. And how could it not, when she has a “mob of wallabies that come by every day — I’ve named them all,” says Brigitte. “We have eucalypts, wattles, wildflowers… And a little walking trail to explore up behind the house.” Of course, Tasmania has long been favoured by artists, including colonial artist John Glover (1767–1849), who famously painted the landscape around his home on the Nile River at Deddington. Today, Glover’s house at Patterdale Farm is being carefully restored by Carol and Rodney Westmore, including a recreation of his garden as it appeared in his 1835 painting, A view of the artist’s house and garden, in Mills Plains, Van Diemen’s Land. “We can’t be too literal,” says Carol. “There are mature trees in the frame now, particularly a number of elms that Glover would’ve planted.” Turn to page 42 for a glimpse into this amazing creative past.

Until next month,

Victoria Carey