Still Lifes (2006-2011)

Devonshire teas started to appear in Valadon’s artwork in 2006 – inspired by Hill End resident Betty Jeffries at Rose Cottage. Betty used to provide Devonshire teas in the garden oft her cottage, with lace tablecloths, fine china, home made jams and scones – Tea for Two series. This theme was revisited in 2009 with the large work ‘Afternoon Delight’. Delighting in the design and colour of the tea services she was starting to collect, Valadon commenced a series of outsized tea cups, shown in the exhibition Euphoria at Eva Breuer, which was a sell-out. The half full/half empty tea cups were also a response to the recent economic downturn – do you view the world in an optimistic or pessimistic way? In some of the larger works, e.g. Gypsy Rose, the cups seem to jut out of the picture plane, suggesting that one could jump into them and drown their sorrows. The richness of the exteriors of the cups - Euphoria, American beauty and Arcadia, amongst others, provide an antidote to recessional thinking, a quiet moment of lush beauty and excess. In 2010 Valadon painted the setting in her garden under the apricot tree, a tranquil evening setting with the attendance of magpies – a place of quiet contemplation and changing colours of autumn leaves. SMH article ‘Nothing like a Nice Cuppa to get Creativity Flowing – Steve Meacham The Sun-Herald “Tea and sympathy under the Apricot Tree’