CABBAGES AND KINGS

Charlotte Thodey’s friends say she is the only artist they’ve ever met who sleeps with, paints and eats her subjects. Indeed, her studio in the bedroom of her home in Sydney’s inner west is jam-packed with fruit and vegetables in varying states of decay. But, then again, so is much of the rest of the house, as fruit and veg are Charlotte’s muse and she delights in giving them eternal life on canvas.

“I grew up in a family of seven at the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island,” she explains. “My father was a country town doctor and he grew most of our food. The garden was pivotal for