Looking at the gorgeous artwork that you've done for Aiden hotel, the first question here would have to be – how did you start painting?

Well, I'm from a dairy farm in country Victoria. So, I grew up on a dairy farm, and I was homeschooled. So, there was no art around – there was just lots of crafting, because it's homeschool. Lots of building things too, and gardening, and lots of creative things for creativity. That was a very big part of my education. 

Then I started drawing, probably just on my own, and teaching myself from about the age of 16. The first time I started drawing, I just taught myself, and I'd never even been to a gallery. So, yeah, I just kind of taught myself through books. Because I was homeschooled, I was also very good at libraries, because back then The Internet wasn't accessible, especially on a farm. So, I went to libraries, and I got art books and taught myself to draw. And, so, the reason I now run an art school is because I taught myself by reading. So, now I teach other people.

Where does your painting inspiration come from?

Good question... Well, my inspiration generally comes from, what I call ‘Natura’, which is like Latin for the ‘outside light’. It's like, the root word that nature came from. Natural light, because I grew up outside. 

We had a teeny house with five kids in it, and I think we had one bedroom, and then we slept in lounge rooms and things. So, as kids, we really lived outside a lot. And so people and the outdoors are probably my inspiration... like the way that the light hits nature. I can't help it. That's all I want to paint. I've tried to paint other things, but I'm always drawn back to nature.

So, how did it come about that you would paint all these incredible artworks for the Aiden Darling Harbour?

Well, another painter was originally meant to paint the Aiden and Nicolas had asked her to do a mural. Like me, she was a finalist in the Archibald Prize as well. However, she said she wasn't able to do it, but she gave him my number and said: “This girl might be able to have a go...” And so then he contacted me and some other artists, and I was the one that called him back first, and chatted to him, and we got on like a ‘house on fire’. I honestly think he hired me just because we got on well!

If you look at it, what I did on the Aiden Darling Harbour bedheads is essentially very simple. So, Nicolas just needed someone who could pull off the projects. However many of them I did... there were quite a few. I did a lot of them.

But I'm in Queensland, so it’s important to mention that he had to fly me and my team down each time to paint!

But anyway, that's how that's how they selected me. He looked for an Archibald finalist. I was one. He wanted the art to be legitimate. 

When I started though, we weren't going to do near as much stuff as I did. His original vision was much smaller. But then, once we started working together, he just kept adding things on.

That mural in the foyer, that painting – that never going to be a painting. That was my idea. It was going to be a mural of Pyrmont, like a blueprint of the city. But I thought it felt more romantic for it to be a painting in a gilded frame. So that was a last-minute thing. And then the big eight-story mural… some of our guest rooms look into an internal lightwell, and we wanted to offer something more interesting for guests to look at than a brick wall.

He was originally going to put a vertical garden with fake plants all through that... so that a guest would feel that they were part of a rainforest when in those rooms – but due to a multitude of reasons, that would not work. 

So, then we discussed it, and after he asked me to do the bedheads, we kind of constructed this concept of actually painting an impression of 150-year-old bricks that were falling apart there, and turning it into an indoor mural.

So, a lot of the projects have been by me and Nicolas working together from an early idea, which is ‘art in every room’, and then turning it into an art hotel together.

If you see it, it’s quite a compact, tiny hotel – but he’s turned it into something artistic, when it could have just been another place with typical white walls.

And then there are the amenities that add to the hotel’s charm too. You've got sparkling water everywhere, and Dyson products. He's done everything beautifully. But the addition of the art just makes it extra special, and definitely very unique.

So, how long did it take to complete all the art? Was it done in stages, or all in one go?

Well, that's a fun story. I definitely did it in three parts. I came into the first part, and then I suffered a catastrophic brain aneurysm after the first part.

So, that happened, and after that, my family was told I was brain dead from it. But then I kind of woke up and I began to speak some words, so then the doctors were like: “Maybe she's just going to have an incredible deficit." I was just going to be brain damaged for life. But every couple of days, I kind of got a bit better, and more of my brain started to recover. And then they realised, about two weeks afterwards, that maybe the brain damage that I suffered was reversible. And well… now I'm fully recovered. 

Nicolas was great throughout that whole period. Financially, straightaway, he gave my family food and everything, and really looked after my family. He's just been amazing. And I barely knew him at this stage. But he just showed up for my family so well. And then, as soon as I was well enough, I came to paint the rest of the art at the Aiden – and then I had major brain surgery.

So five days after I finished the whole project, I had the biggest surgery, which had a 50% mortality rate. So, I kind of finished the job, and then I was like: “I hope I’m gonna live.” But the doctors did that surgery, and thankfully it all worked perfectly. 

So, I think that’s all a really important part of this whole story – and also why I think Nicolas and I have formed such a great friendship. We still talk all the time. He could have just easily just asked another artist to finish the job at the Aiden Darling Harbour – but he didn’t. And I don't know why, but I'm stoked about it. He must have wondered whether I was even going to be mentally capable of doing it, but he didn't even question it. He just let me call the shots. That was lovely ­– and it all worked out somehow – as you can see if you visit that beautiful hotel.  

Well, that’s definitely an incredibly inspiring story. It’s clearly not just any artwork at the Aiden. The design is also particularly unique. It’s been said that it’s “designed for travellers by travellers.” How has this influenced your artworks for the hotel, if at all?

Well, yeah, I mean – both of us are travellers, so he explained that vision to me at the start. And so we wanted it to feel like the Aiden hotel provides all the comforts that you don't get in a large space. For example, you go into a normal, big hotel and you might not have water there in your room – so you have to go out and buy your own water. But he was like: “I want our guests to have beautiful, filtered mineral water upon entry."

So he kind of went through all these things and details, that when you're travelling, make you tired because other hotels prioritise the room over comfort. So the artwork was supposed to weave in with that, and be rejuvenating, and natural. So we were trying to aim for that. That's why, for example, you see there all the blossoms you'll see. There's a whole story for me behind that too, but it goes with the theme behind the design of the hotel too. I just wanted it to feel natural.

I didn't want it to feel like you're just going into another white space of ‘fakeness’. But it felt like somebody's hand-painted it, so there were humans in it, and also that there was nature around everywhere – two things I'm really big on. People often tagged me on social media – and even now they do, and they're like: “This is hand painted!” And that's one of the things I love. It wasn't done by a machine. You can see my signature on it, so it just feels more personal and feels like there is an interaction between the owner and the person staying. 

There’s art in every room; or some of the rooms, they’ve got glass windows that look out to the mural, and that’s made it feel like there’s nature present in every space as well. It’s really just so beautiful, and special. So yeah, that was what I was trying to do. Thinking the entire time – if I was staying in a hotel room, what would I want?

How did the Aiden Hotel’s minimalist and compact spaces make them a good fit for your art in particular?

Once I went there and saw the vision of it being a boutique style hotel, but affordable – it suits me, because I wouldn’t stay in a high-end hotel... I like to spend my money in other places. I, of course, like to stay in a nice, clean hotel – but a lot of mine and Nicolas’ values lined up. And then when he showed me the design – he was designing around luxury, but which was also functional and useful. It works with how I think.  

I don’t like things because they're Gucci, for example. I like things because they function really well. So when something does its job really well, it makes me think it’s really good. And Nicolas is really similar. 

And so, what I like about the hotel is that it’s about functionality, with comfort and beauty – weaved together. 

So, the art was also about form and function. It’s very rare for someone to ask an artist to let art also serve a purpose. So, the purpose of this art wasn’t just to make things beautiful, but also to help guests feel a sense of personal exchange. All the things we discussed earlier. So, once I saw that vision, I just thought: “I can totally get behind that.” Because I’m the same. 

Why is teaching such an important part of your art journey?

Art has been a really big healer in my life. I’m a very busy-minded human being. When I make art, it’s difficult enough that it calms my system down. Because I'm quite hyperactive. But you have to be fully focused when you’re creating an artwork. Because it is really hard. But it calms me. 

So, nature and art have been such a great healer in my life that I just wanted to teach other people how to harness it.

And I’ve seen everyone, from 85-year-olds who can’t believe that they still have the ability to have a voice, or to have ideas; to teenagers, who all discover the ability to make art – and the impact it’s had on their lives. And my teaching started as something small – much like my project with the Aiden Darling Harbour – that became something bigger because of what I’ve seen that it can do for others. And now we have about 700 weekly students, and we’re the biggest art school in Australia, etc… it’s grown. But I think it’s all just really grown from watching people be helped. 

Everyone thinks that you’re just an artist, or you’re not. But it’s really a skill. So, you can learn, and it’s a beautiful journey. 

It’s just really nice to know that if you wanted to, at night – instead of watching screens and feeling overwhelmed by the world… you can just study a leaf or draw a blossom, and your system can be calmed down. It’s just really nice to know that you can do that. And that’s really important to me. 

What are your top three favourite neighbourhoods in Australia and why?

- Rutherglen in Victoria. It’s a top wine region in Victoria, and it’s just beautiful.

- Huon Valley in Southern Tasmania

- Queensland Hinterland

Finally – what are your secret places that you like to travel to, for a perfect holiday getaway?

Well, Sydney’s a fun place – but I'm on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland – so I love Kin Kin in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. It’s really beautiful there. A holiday escape to me means being ‘off-grid’, and really relaxed. And I love cooking over coals, and so does my husband – so we’re always looking for a place with a big, cosy fire.

In New Zealand, I’d also really love to go to Christchurch – it looks really beautiful, so it’s on my list. 

Anywhere near the Overland Track [Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park] in Tasmania too. I just love Tasmania in general, so I spend a lot of time there. And the Kimberlys in Western Australia – that’s a beautiful place too. I love hiking, so anywhere where there’s hiking, I’m into.

But overall, I’m a pretty Australian, New Zealand kind of girl. And I generally stay in boutique hotels. They’re just more personal.