Waggett’s approach to still life shows how familiar forms become carriers of memory, resilience, and care. Each painting is built slowly with oil, precious metals, and textured surfaces that respond to light. Each petal becomes a study of beauty that is always at risk, a form that holds both softness and defense.

These roses come from personal origins, having planted them in her garden with her daughter, watching them grow from one season to the next. That experience of tending something delicate through weather, time, and uncertainty informs the way she paints them. They are portraits of attention. They hold the imprint of shared moments and the knowledge that beauty often needs protection.

Roses have always carried contradictions. Every petal is balanced by a thorn. Every bloom carries the possibility of fading. Waggett leans into that tension, exploring strength within fragility and the instinct to guard what matters.

In her hands the rose becomes more than a botanical subject. It becomes an image of care shaped through labour, light, and memory. A still life for the present, rooted in personal history and the universal pull of something fleeting.