Wintering

A 2026 Hadley’s Art Prize finalist, Linda Greedy returns to Michael Reid Southern Highlands with Wintering, a new collection that brings her intricate practice to an unprecedented scale.

Painting from her travels across Tasmania, Greedy develops sprawling, densely worked paintings from the island’s exposed landscape, where the distinctive silhouettes of Macrocarpa Pines, long planted as windbreaks against its harsh conditions, stand sentinel across the terrain. Wintering also introduces a new landscape, equally one of remote extremes and sublime beauty: the Cape to Cape Track in the south-west of Western Australia.

“Following the coastline through the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, the track winds inland through dense coastal heath to intermittently emerge onto rugged, windblown granite headlands, affording spectacular views of remote beaches,” says Greedy.

Her trees remain a dominant anchor in her work, situating them distinctly in place. “Here, in WA, the native peppermint and melaleuca trees cling to the headlands, pruned and twisted sideways, holding out against the fierce Roaring Forties winds,” says the artist.

Hiking is vital to Greedy, who seeks out seclusion and immersion in the Australian bush as a break from routine commitments. “Hiking and the landscape allow me to settle my mind, to recalibrate, providing me the opportunity to explore both visual and emotional inspiration – solitude, exposure, shelter and beauty,” she says.

Back home in Port Stephens, NSW, the artist draws out the scenery that surrounded her on these long expeditions, committing them to canvas. What was encountered almost incidentally on the trail must now be examined, selected and resolved with a brush and oils. The meditative rhythm of walking gives way to the more demanding business of making a picture.

Alongside her Hadley’s Art Prize selection, Greedy is also a finalist in the Paddington Art Prize, Lethbridge 20,000 and Muswellbrook Art Prize. Wintering is the artist’s third exhibition with Michael Reid Southern Highlands, after Heartleap (2025) and Watching Dawn Break and Dusk Fall (2025).