Good Golly Miss Olley Australian Treasure gone at 88 years + Archibald 2011 win + Archibald 1948 +

Gorgeous image of Margaret Olley & Ben Quilty earlier this year

after his portrait of Margaret won

Australia's prestigious 2011 Archibald Prize ...

Margaret took to colour after a bout with depression ...

her colours were splendid ...

her settings were gorgeous ...

in 1948 William Dobell won the Archibald for this portrait of Margaret ...

I was transfixed when I saw it at the Sydney Art Gallery.

I hope she was like this till her last breath.

I so want to be like Margaret when I grow up ...

good golly Miss Olley you've gone way too soon.

Superhero's & Villians Challenge ... my picks

Margaret Olley a true superheroine ...

The challenge this week is Superhero's & Villians ... of which I've known plenty!

My super hero's are real ... they're women. ... they're heroines.


From my great great grandmother, Mary Bee who was shipped to the colony, as Australia was known in 1820 from England for stealing cheese ... to the women I have met along the way ... nameless heroines each with marvellous stories of survival ... not neccessarily women in the public eye ... none of them would have been seen in a spandex suit, with huge zhoomers, lips and/or hair ... simply ordinary women who survived against the odds!


Three you might know ... all with super abilities that inspire, motivate and leave me in awe are ... Margaret Olley, Klytie Pate & Mirka Mora ...


MARGARET OLLEY is the person I wanted to be when 'I grew up' ... in her 90s Miss Olley is still strolling the streets of Paddington, pinching flowers from front gardens, painting beautifully and holding soirees for the invited few ... more on Margaret here


KLYTIE PATE :: a recent interview on ABC Collectors with one of my super heroines, Australian artist, Klytie Pate.
Now a spritely 97, Klytie began her career in 1936 and continued to work in the earthenware tradition for over 60 years, an outstanding and rare achievement. With her work so now highly regarded and valuable, Klytie said she’s sorry she didn’t keep more!


MIRKA MORA ::: read about Mirka here ...

Mirka and Margaret Olley were the only ones I was able to find a recent photo's of ... the rest, like true heroines, are too modest!

... the villians for this challenge ... I've know too many of them, not enough bandwidth here ...

Photo Friday - ART ... Good Golly Miss Olley ...

Last year the Good Weekend magazine in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald, featured this portrait, on the cover with the heading Good Golly Miss Olley - a tribute to one of Australia's finest women artist's and beloved living legend, Margaret Olley.

This portrait of Margaret Olley, painted by William Dobell in 1948 won that years ultimate Australian portrait award, the Archibald Prize , hangs in the New South Wales Art Gallery ... I snuck this photo of the portrait when visiting the gallery last year...

... this is ART!

Good Golly Miss Olley

Last year Good Weekend that once fabulous magazine (but that's

another story), that accompanies the Saturday SMH did a cover

story on the amazing Margaret Olley . Good Golly Miss Olley

was the title, it was then I decided that when I grow up I wanted

to be just like Miss Olley.

My thrill at the aformentioned Art Gallery was to see the portrait

of Miss Olley that won the 1948 Archibald prize by William Dobell.

I believe Miss Olley still creates, souvenirs flowers over the fences
near her home in Sydney's east and entertains interesting people -

Mmmm ... I'm getting there!