Ann Owen | Top End Characters
Top End Characters, a solo exhibition by Ann Owen
Every animal has a personality. That's not sentimentality — it's what happens when you've spent years painting the wildlife of Australia's Northern Territory at close range.
Top End Characters brings together original watercolours by Darwin artist Ann Owen — a collection that spans the iconic and the overlooked, from jewel-bright kingfishers to the magnificently misunderstood ibis. Painted in bold, vibrant watercolour on heavy cotton archival paper, these works capture not just what these animals look like, but what they're up to.
The Top End has a way of introducing you to its wildlife whether you're ready or not. This is Ann's response to those encounters.
About the artist
Ann Owen is a Darwin-based watercolourist who has painted her whole life and sharing original works with collectors since 2007, when she first began exhibiting in Alice Springs.
Working in bold, vibrant watercolour on premium 640gsm 100% cotton archival paper, Ann paints Australian wildlife, birds and botanicals with a particular focus on the Northern Territory and Top End species. Her palette is vivid and unapologetically bold — a deliberate departure from the soft, muted tones more typical of the medium. Luminous backgrounds, strong colour presence and a fascination with the eye as compositional anchor give the work an immediacy that is distinctly her own.
Darwin Visual Arts
Friday 31 July – Saturday 22 August 2026
Gallery open Wednesday 12pm - 5pm; Thursday & Friday 10am - 5pm; Saturday (artist run) 10am - 2pm
Exhibition opening – Friday 31 July, 6–8pm
