Attunement to light – how it flows over, plays upon and defines structure, shape and colour – is Judith Sinnamon’s primary concern. Her carefully crafted studies of Australian native flora capture each plant’s singular gesture and presence, compelling the viewer to engage with a unique species as well as to witness the artist’s dialogue with paint.
Within her work, the nonhuman (plants, trees, flowers, fruit) and the nonliving (fabric, bowls, baskets) offer a source for contemplation of the world’s strange familiarity. Whether painting a still life of domestic objects or a landscape en plein air, Sinnamon’s ability to see and capture the intimacy of things is founded upon intuitive use of the palette of native flora balanced with a personal, almost sculptural rendering of her subject matter.
Judith brings tree branches, blossoms and leaves into the studio, where compositional decisions crop branches, celebrate negative space or experiment with pattern and overlapping, chaotic movement. These indoor specimen studies, while loosely related to early botanical illustration, are executed with an eye toward propagating foliage across the canvas, much like the natural generation of tree limbs, to surpass botany’s cool empiricism and embrace a deeply felt coexistence with nature.
Judith Sinnamon has a Diploma of Fine Art majoring in Painting from Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. Judith was a finalist in the 2023 Archibald Prize and the Brisbane Portrait Prize. Her work is held by the Mater Private Hospital Brisbane Art Collection, the Kawana Private Hospital Art Collection and numerous private collections in Australia as well as internationally.
Carrie McCarthy, 2021
