Succulents and cacti are enjoying a lot of attention online these days, in homes, on prints, for like a good almost two years now I guess. Last year pineapples also peppered Instagram and somewhat overlapped the early reign of terrariums and succulents. I never took an interest in any. There was one childhood exception of repeatedly reading one narrative from one of my knowledge books. In it, a barrel cactus helped save a father and son in the desert from dying of thirst when they squeezed out its juice.
Today, oil paintings of cacti posted on Instagram by Perth based artist Kate Jarman had me smiling a lot and I hopped on over to have a look at her site and pictures of her paintings were on display. Read on to see a few more.
In my life I've never had many cactus thoughts. To me as a kid, a cactus looked like a subversive plant that couldn't care less if you were staring. These paintings have made me feel otherwise. Click on the images to take you through to their individual pages on her site.
Kate Jarman studied Painting and Curating at The Byam Shaw School of Art and Central Saint Martins College in London. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Curtin University with a Dean's Commendation in 2010. Kate has exhibited at PICA (Perth Institute of Contemporary Art), The Oats Factory, Buratti Gallery, Artist Open House Fremantle and Mundaring Arts Centre.
Apparently is the only artist I've come across whose work has moved me to consider cacti more than twice. She loves painting birds, too. Above, in some of the work shown from her online portfolio, it's easy to see why so many of them have sold out. Follow her on Instagram @_katejarman_ , she doesn't hesitate to reply.
