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Overview
"I paint familiar objects-crockery on a dresser shelf, fresh fish on patterned linens-not as passive still lifes, but as celebrations of home and the private theatre of the everyday" - Ollie Tuck.
Olivia (Ollie) Tuck is a Sussex-based still life painter whose work has been exhibited with the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Women Artists. Her paintings respond to the colour and light she finds in everyday subjects, combining traditional still life themes with a contemporary use of pattern in highly decorative, joyful compositions. Rooted in domestic life, her work treats familiar objects, crockery on a dresser shelf, fresh fish laid on patterned linen, as celebrations of home and the small rituals of the everyday. Her achievements have been recognised with a series of awards, including second place for the Stanley Grimm Memorial Award at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2022, the RSMA Next Generation Award and the Holly Bush Painter Prize for Best Figurative Painting in 2021. Olivia's journey as a painter began with portraits of friends and family, and took a decisive turn at around seventeen when she started visiting exhibitions. Largely self-taught, she developed her skills through sustained practice and observation, and colour quickly emerged as the defining feature of her work, as it remains today. Her move into still life, and food subjects in particular, came during the lockdowns, when regular trips to local farm shops and fishmongers supplied both her subjects and, frequently, the ingredients for that evening's meal. She discovered that a mackerel on a patterned cloth or a bowl of ripening tomatoes could hold as much visual interest as any grander subject. Working primarily in oils, Olivia values the medium's versatility and the range of surfaces and effects it makes possible. Her aim is to create paintings that draw the viewer in to study the brushwork at close range before stepping back to take in the whole. She finds great satisfaction in the continuous learning her practice demands, and in the moments of breakthrough that move her work forward.
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Works for sale
Ollie Tuck
Lulworth LobsterOil on Gesso Primed Board13 x 18 cms / 5 x 7 inchesSigned 'OT' (lower right)Description
Ollie Tuck’s Lulworth Lobster reflects her delight in transforming everyday subjects into intimate, jewel-like paintings. Based in Sussex, Tuck developed her distinctive still-life practice through a close engagement with domestic life and the pleasures of ordinary objects, often drawing inspiration from produce gathered from local fishmongers, farm shops and markets. Seafood has become a recurring subject within her work, offering rich opportunities to explore colour, texture and decorative form. Tuck has described her miniature paintings as a chance to revisit familiar motifs, refining her depiction of them while allowing room for experimentation. This balance between observation and invention is central to Lulworth Lobster, where the subject is not merely recorded but reimagined through a heightened and carefully considered palette. Her intention is to push colour in a way that remains true to life while enhancing the subject’s decorative appeal.
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