A Painter of Joy Michael McHugh's paintings are by turns joyous, magical, mysterious, provocative, colorful, and happy. For more than three decades, the artist has been exploring the vastness of color and form in nature. His curiosity and interest have led him to visit gardens, museums, and libraries around the world, making sketches and taking photographs of new and exotic specimens. In his Sydney studio he formulates designs for his large-scale paintings. Researching in the libraries of London’s Royal Horticulture Society and Sydney's Royal Botanic Garde, In discovering a "new world" of flora, McHugh was fascinated by the wide-ranging styles of botanical illustration, "giving me license to create my own botanical language." The resulting paintings represent a combination of now-extinct species with contemporary and imagined plant forms. They are an imaginative celebration of color and design. "I want these paintings to bring the viewer joy, to smile," the artist states. "To forget everything else that’s happening...for a moment, let’s just be happy."