Small Pleasures brings together an entire year’s worth of paintings by the wonderful Ollie Tuck. At home with her young daughter, Ollie has experienced a smaller and more intimate world this year, and the exhibition draws us into that immediate space, finding the remarkable in the everyday. With an instinct for finding joy in the small things, Ollie turns her attention to a sardine from the fishmonger, a jar of jam, a Savoy cabbage, a handful of spring bulbs or a flurry of ducks gathering at the edge of a pond.
As Ollie explains, “My intention from the start has been to tell the story of the small pleasures that punctuate the seasons.” Those pleasures take many forms, from local produce arriving in the kitchen and mornings spent feeding the ducks to memories of holidays and the changing character of the home itself. Each painting holds its own small story, but together they form a broader portrait of Ollie’s year, shaped by these small pleasures.
