A relocation from inner Sydney to Blackheath and a new mountain garden inspired these floral paintings. Of the works in this exhibition Jessica says ‘trying to capture the transient beauty of cut flowers poses many challenges; I had to construct miniature torture devices of wire and fishing line to suspend and fix the flowers in place and the hellebores had to be dipped in boiling water and then submerged in an ice bath daily.

​

Oil painting, by its nature is anachronistically slow. Despite a glut of images, in this era we often don’t truly see. Painting for me is a way to be in the moment. I don’t use photos, I paint from life - it’s the impossibility of trying to slow time when what you want to capture is fleeting.'

​

Jessica is a recent graduate of the Julian Ashton Art School, where she was awarded a fulltime scholarship in 2016. Before Art School she studied biology, and so brings a botanist’s eye to her plant portraits. This scientific background also informs her choice of materials; she uses both historic and twenty-first century pigments and mediums to create a rich palette.