Annie Holcombe’s colourful naive style has been delighting visitors to the Dirty Janes, ‘Artist in Residence’ space in Bowral since September.  Annie’s vivid imagination is the inspiration for the scenes in her art although next year she plans to paint more localised landscapes, recognisable as the Southern Highlands. Bong Bong picnic races and a wedding at Centennial Vineyards have already featured in Annie’s charming work.

Another favourite location is Bradman Oval. A fictional match here was the subject of one of Annie’s early pieces, ‘I entered a painting of Bradman Oval into an exhibition at the Arts Society in Bowral. I know nothing about cricket, so when it came time to put the players in the scene, I just put them anywhere. Along came former cricket captain, Ian Craig, who bought the painting and gave it to the Bradman Museum. He thought it was hilarious with the Cricketers all over the place. At his funeral some years ago they brought out the painting and put it on display next to Alan Jones, the MC. I don’t think he understood the humour. I felt rather embarrassed. The painting is in the museum somewhere.’

After 35 years adorning canvases with her colourful scenes, Annie recently turned her joyful artistic eye to clay and has now added ceramic pieces to her repertoire. Ecstatic colour is the order of the day. If it is pristine perfection you are after, you won’t find it in Annie’s gleeful pieces, ‘I love to roll out a piece of clay with no idea what it is going to be. Hence a lot of my ceramics are very wonky as I call them. You often see my fingerprints in the clay and a vase, for instance, can have a curve to it.’

Since taking the ‘Artist in Residence’ place in Dirty Janes Bowral, Annie has been in the studio every day, creating more things to keep up with demand. Get in quick to catch Annie at Dirty Janes until early January 2021. Find out more about Annie and her work here.