Painting with petals

Australian icon John Olsen talks to Josephine Brouard about his latest artwork, an octopus created from a sea of red and orange tulips.

John Olsen quotes poetry the way other people recall the weather forecast. Peppering his conversation with allusions to Kenneth Slessor, W H Auden and Seamus Heaney, to name but a few great poets, the listener becomes instantly mesmerised by the cadence of his stanzas. The rhythm evokes long-forgotten memories of chalky classrooms on soporific summer afternoons. As satisfying to the soul as one of the artist’s squiggly landscape paintings, one is struck by John’s obvious delight in words crafted as thoughtfully as his own brushstrokes.

John has always been enamoured by poetry, so much so that when he was commissioned to paint a giant mural for the Sydney Opera House in the early 1970s, he chose to pay homage to a moving Kenneth Slessor poem that describes a man drowning in Sydney Harbour. In Salute to Five Bells, John rendered the oceanic depths that lurk beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge in his own iconic style.

The 78-year-old artist with twinkling eyes and trademark beret has also painted frogs, emus, honey possums, squid and Portuguese men-of-war. In fact, there’s barely a facet of his homeland’s natural landscape that he hasn’t captured on canvas. Most recently he drew a very special creature: an octopus that will ultimately be rendered, not in paint, but in flowers and foliage of the tulip kind – specifically the blood-red tulip ‘Sevilla’ and, for contrast and texture, the orange tones of the tulip ‘Ad Rem’. “This will be the most ephemeral ‘painting’ I’ve ever done,” John enthuses. He’s always loved beautiful gardens and the joy they bring, so what could be better than designing an octopus’s garden for Notebook: Bowral Tulip Time, an annual springtime festival in the New South Wales Southern Highlands.

“I’d like to be under the sea/In an octopus’s garden in the shade/We would be warm below the storm/In our little hideaway beneath the waves/Resting our head on the sea bed/In an octopus’s garden near a cave...” So goes The Beatles’ famous song, ‘Octopus’s Garden’, which depicts musically the same watery underworld that Kenneth Slessor alludes to in his poem ‘Five Bells’ and John Olsen depicts in his mural Salute to Five Bells. Coincidentally, the floral centrepiece of this year’s Notebook: Bowral Tulip Time brings together a multitude of sensibilities designed to bring fleeting delight to the thousands of visitors expected to flock to this springtime celebration.

When Tourism Southern Highlands asked John Olsen to contribute to this year’s Beatles’ themed event, the Bowral resident and winner of the 2005 Archibald Prize for portraiture admits he was initially reluctant. “I get so many requests – if I said yes to every one I’d never have time to paint,” explains the artist, who believes in working a ‘nine-to-five’ day, seven days a week. “Inspiration is not waited for, it’s worked for,” he says.

Nonetheless, John was keen to give something back to his fellow Southern Highlanders and when he was approached with the idea of creating a floral work of art in collaboration with horticulturalists, he couldn’t resist. He painted his lively octopus in shades of vermilion and orange with white tentacle tips, and imagined his friendly sea creature coming to life as spring breezes rustled through sprouting tulip bulbs.

Gardeners have planted more than 100,000 tulip bulbs and 25,000 annuals for the glorious burst of colour that has transformed Bowral’s Corbett Gardens, Tulip Time’s main venue, into a scented three-dimensional experience guaranteed to satisfy the most sated of senses. In addition to this spectacular display, the annual springtime festival includes tours of beautiful private gardens, a host of informative talks, embroidery exhibitions and workshops, a garden show, food and wine happenings, an old-fashioned country fair, and a Beatles’ tribute concert.

Due to the growing popularity of Notebook: Bowral Tulip Time, the 47-year-old festival has been extended from two to three weeks this year. “It’s fitting our district should showcase the beauty of nature,” says festival manager Debra Bonett. “Judging from the feedback we get, it’s not only residents that get a kick out of the event; visitors love to ramble through acres of beautiful garden – Tulip Time is a chance for people to experience spring in all its glory like country folk do.”

John Olsen echoes Debra’s sentiments, adding how pleased he was to donate his Octopus’s Garden painting to a fundraising raffle. “Proceeds from Tulip Time will go to Rotary, Lions, Senior Citizens and the Country Women’s Association,” he says.

Visitors are encouraged to return to Corbett Gardens on 11 November armed with spades and gumboots to dig up bulbs for planting at home. The event is part of the Days of Wine, Art & Roses festival, which runs from 4-19 November.

For information, call 1300 657 559 or visit www.tuliptime.net.au.

Blooming marvellous
This year, Notebook: magazine is proud to be a major sponsor of one of Australia’s best-loved floral events. Notebook: Bowral Tulip Time runs from 21 September to 8 October in historic Corbett Gardens, which is just a short walk from Bowral train station. The gardens are open from 9am to 4pm daily, and admission costs $8 for adults, $5 for children/concessions and $4.50 per person for groups of 20 or more. Admission is free for children aged 12 and under.

Words: Josephine Brouard. Photography: Sam McAdam.