taking her weeks to finish a single piece. Sages expressed to Wilson that she is fond of the way these materials bring depth and character to her portrait subjects’ faces. Sages creates her work using kitchen knives scraping into the surface of the boards, forming indentations for pigments to settle. She then builds up color and texture with her fingers and palms using pigments. Theme and Style Sages is known in the Australian art scene mainly for her abstract landscape paintings and her deeply connecting portraits. Portrait Sages said in an interview that she never takes commission to do portraits because she only does it for her loved ones, motivated by her own interest. Her portrait paintings, including self-portraits, won her 21 Archibald prizes in total. Sages also composed several self-portraits, including Each morning when I wake up I put on my mother's face (2000) and After Jack (2012). After Jack received the People’s Choice Awards of the 2012 Archibald Prize, for it was voted as the favorite work among the finalists. The work earned Sages her highest achievement in the Archibald prize. The self-portrait is regarded as manifesting "profound human connection" as it is deeply personal for Sages. Sages expressed that the process of painting was driven by grief. After 55 years of marriage to Jack Sages, Jenny Sages explores her new identity and new life without him in this self-portrait. The work was completed using the same encaustic painting technique as her other portraits. Abstract Landscape Despite Sages sourcing her inspiration through observing indigenous art-making, her representation of the central Australian landscape does not include Aboriginal icons, techniques, and forms, but stimulated by her own senses and memories of the land. Curator Margot Osborne observed that Sages “approach to abstraction is not imitative of Aboriginal art, but there are affinities evident in her repetitive organic rhythms and textures and also in the underlying allusions to nature as a wellspring of spiritual understanding.” Sages landscape paintings feature the tactile and rhythmic patterns that resembles elements from nature, such as leaf skeletons, maggots, seeds, or weathered wood and fossilized tracks. Text Incorporation The use of texts can be seen in a small portion of Sages work as they signify her heritage and personal identity as an artist. In Her self-portrait Each morning when I wake up I put on my mother's face (2000), lines written by the Russian poet Anna