Painting

Oil on hardboard

Spare Bedroom was painted at 'Fardon', the Olley family home in Brisbane. Margaret Olley's mother, Grace Olley, was good friends with artist Margaret Cilento's mother, Lady Phyllis Cilento, and her grandmother, Alice 'Nanny' McGlew. Occasionally Nanny McGlew was a guest at the Olleys' and occupied this narrow little room, more like a passageway than a proper bedroom. On one particular occasion Nanny McGlew was ushered into the spare bedroom only to be confronted by a large Olley nude, which occupied the entire free wall space. Straightaway Nanny McGlew asked Grace Olley for a towel, claiming she wouldn't be able to sleep unless the painting was covered up. (Meg Stuart, Margaret Olley Interiors and Still Lifes, 2006)