Celia Perceval - Some Rare Early Works

Last year I visited Celia's studio where I found these terrific early works. They are not the Australian Bush landscapes we are so familiar with but show the breadth of the artist's talent; her drawing skill, keen observation and diversity of subjects. From an early age, wherever she went, Celia had a paint brush or a pencil in her hand.

Celia is one of Australia's most dedicated painters of the natural world. For decades, she has ventured deep into the bush, working en plein air in remote locations far from the comforts of a studio.

Her artistic process is grounded in stillness, patience, and physical presence: “The longer you sit in one remote spot in the bush, the more you become part of it,” she explains.

Rather than imposing order on the landscape, Perceval seeks to become attuned to its rhythms allowing the terrain to speak through her brushwork. Her approach is not one of control but of quiet surrender, responding to what remains of the wilderness with reverence and restraint. "These days I feel like I’m painting what’s left of the landscape"

Perceval’s paintings are not simply visual impressions of a place — her brushwork hums with movement, the scent, and the sounds of the subject she is painting producing works alive with atmosphere and emotional depth.

It is that quality of attentiveness — to what the wilderness still offers, and what we stand to lose — that make her works so arresting. They confirm what collectors who know her paintings already understand: "A good painting should never just be seen once, it should always draw you in and reveal something new. Just like the landscape itself."