PENNY VERDICH

Penny Verdich is a contemporary artist from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

Primarily a painter of semi-abstract landscapes, Penny uses saturated colour to create bold patterned paintings. Drawing and painting on location is central to her practice. This enables Penny to explore the lines, shapes and patterns of the environment of the environment and provide the foundation for work completed in her home studio.

For Penny, ‘on location’ can be anywhere from the tangled Angophora foreshore of Sydney Harbour to the wild southern reaches of Tasmania as well as the vastness of central Australia and its desert landscape.

‘It’s being outside, in all elements, from the peaceful beaches and coves of Sydney Harbour to wild, windy and wet coastlines anywhere from southern Tasmania to Svalbard in the Arctic Circle, that inspire me to create preliminary drawings in my trusty sketchbook.’

For each painting, the colour and texture of the ground guides Penny to create forms and tessellated patterns which resolve into a semi-abstract landscape.

‘The aim is not to reproduce the scene but to create a response to the elements of the physical environment. Line, colour and perhaps most importantly pattern, offer me a way of representing my personal view of the world and transforming reality.’

 In 2022, Penny was a finalist in the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award. In 2021, 2022 and 2024 she was a finalist in the Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Prize. In 2024, she was also a finalist in the Gosford Art Prize. In 2025 Penny was a finalist in the Woollahra 9x5 Landscape Prize and The Corner Store Mini Series Prize in Orange. This year, Penny was a finalist in the John Villiers Outback Prize in Winton, Queensland and Inside This Box at The Corner Store in Orange, NSW. Most recently she is a finalist in Weswal Gallery Tamworth ‘Interiors Art Prize.

Penny exhibits in galleries in rural NSW as well as Sydney. In August 2024 Penny had her first solo show and is currently an associate artist with Sydney Road Gallery, Balgowlah, exhibiting in group shows and with a duo show set for  November 2026.