JOHN OLSEN – ‘DRAWN FROM LIFE’

Artists on the whole are not necessarily the best people to write about their work – and this is probably how it should be. However in the late 1990’s a selection of John Olsen’s diary entries were published as a book called ‘Drawn from Life’. Olsen writes very well about his own experience of making art and his thoughts on the artworks of his predecessors and contemporaries. Many of Australia’s best know painters – Sidney Nolan, Brett Whiteley, Fred Williams and Tim Storrier – move in and out of frame. As is obvious from some of his paintings John Olsen is a lover of good food and also includes some of his favourite recipes just in case the reader gets inspired to give them a try!