An Ode to Winter

Based in South Australia’s picturesque Adelaide Hills region, Romany Mollison is a landscape painter working in oils to portray the beauty of her surrounds. The move to South Australia from Melbourne (via a few years in Sydney) – with her husband and young daughter – resulted in the adventurous restoration of a 130 year-old cottage on an orchard which was to become their home when first settling in South Australia. Through this experience, Romany completely fell in love with the rolling hills, misty valleys, orchards and vineyards of the Adelaide Hills. This landscape now informs all of her work. Romany’s paintings have a sense of quiet calm, romance, sometimes melancholy, and there is always a source of light emerging. Many thin layers are built up on the canvas and softly blended to give a feeling of being immersed in the landscape – the emotive qualities of fading light, storms and fog are the main inspiration. Romany’s work has featured as a finalist in the Glover Prize for 2022 and her painting “I’ll Wait For You” was awarded Highly Commended in the 2023 Glover Prize. She holds a Bachelor of Art (Design) and Post Graduate Diploma (Design) from RMIT in Melbourne.

“In my painting practice I am interested in capturing in oils those moments of stillness in the country where light and conditions are changing and a feeling of quiet descends, especially in winter. At my home in the Adelaide Hills we are lucky to be surrounded by the landscapes I love to paint; with gorgeous morning fogs, rollings hills and misty valleys. And further afield on our many family road trips I am always on the hunt for that atmospheric quality in the landscape..pines standing silent in vast paddocks; silvery winter light emerging from heavy rain clouds; glimpses of distant ranges in blues and purples. There is a sense of quiet, restorative calm in these winter landscapes.”

– Romany Mollison 2023