ESTHER SMITH
Esther Smith has explored a range of ides and media in her art practice since gaining a degree in Visual Arts and Design in 2001. She has exhibited her work in many group exhibitions since then, and her paintings have homes in private collections in New Zealand and overseas.
In these most recent works, Esther invites you to take a journey through the glorious garden that surrounds her studio on a Hawke's Bay vineyard she shares with her French wine-making husband and her young daughter, incidentally named after a flower.
Flowers have long been a source of inspiration and enthralment for Esther. From evocative childhood memories of beautiful gardens to the adult delight of discovering on exquisite bloom, dusted in morning dew. And then a thousand photographs to capture such moments of bliss. Working from her own images of the garden she has so lovingly tended, Esther's richly-detailed paintings copture the fleeting beauty and fragility of flowers. Of lifetimes that are measured in hours and days. Transience and imperfection. The viewer becomes lost in the sensual folds of each petal, feeling the sun on their back, the intoxicating perfume of old world roses and the hum of bees seeking pollen.
"I absolutely adore flowers.
They move me to the very core of my soul.
I want to share this magic with you"