Author(s): Thomas David

Art and Design

Criss Canning combines the traditions of botanical art and still-life painting in her beautiful paintings in which as Gordon Morrison, Director of the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, has observed, she portrays the personality of each plant depicted. While flowers and leaves attract the eye for the beauty of their colors, Canning is a consummate colorist and an expert in the rendering of light as it is reflected off the glass and ceramic vessels that are used to present her botanical specimens. These paintings celebrate color, light and the marvels of nature. Canning joins other Australian women artists, such as Margaret Preston and Margaret Olley, who have responded to the beauty and munificence of nature's offerings and created images that induce immense pleasure in the observer. Dame Elisabeth, herself a keen gardener, provides a warm and appreciative introduction to this sumptuously illustrated book which will delight the art-lover and gardener alike.