In Tai Tapu, Canterbury, something extraordinary unfolds each morning. Across 3.2 acres of
flowers , grown from seed, tended by hand—Sue Knowles walks her garden, recognising every bloom
by name, by scent, by the way light transforms it. Over 18 years, she’s documented thousands of
these floral companions.

Then, when the moment is perfect not just how the flower looks, but how it feels — she paints. What
the camera misses, Sue captures: that breathless pause when you step into a garden and everything
else falls away; the unexpected joy as a nurtured flower finally blooms; the peace that arrives, quietly,
amidst beauty that demands nothing in return.

 

Sue’s process is meticulous.  Many studies never become finished works because the moment they held had more to say. "Pretty isn’t enough,” she says. “It has to make you stop - scrolling, talking, pretending you’re too busy to notice.”

 

The pieces that emerge are layered with 47–112 individual petal studies, each traceable to her garden, each one painted in the exact light that first called her to stop walking.

Collectors tell us: "Sue’s paintings do something photographs can’t. They breathe the outside
in, transforming rooms into refuges and reminding us that somewhere, right now, something
beautiful is blooming—and we are invited to witness it."