Published On: January 16, 2025750 words4.4 min read
Artwork Inspired by Nature

Artwork Inspired by Nature

Smith & Brooks were very lucky to have been able to travel to many wonderful locations in 2024 gathering loads of inspiration for our artwork and creative pursuits. As you know, we love nothing better than investigating landscapes, taking lots of reference photos, identifying individual species that catch our eye and then translating those into original artworks. With locations visited in not only Australia but also Europe and SouthEast Asia we had to really cut this list down to fit it into a neat little blog. So we have opted to go with Australian locations simply because we paint native Australian plants in our collaboration! Here we go starting at number 5:

#5 Malanda in the Tablelands, Queensland (Kerrin)

I visited this beautiful part of Australia earlier in the year. Some of my grandparents lived here when they were young so we have a lot of family ties to this area. For me, I spent many school holidays staying at my cousin’s place in Malanda, swimming in the creeks and under the waterfalls and of course exploring the rainforest. Even now, my Dad lives there on a property that overlooks Mount Bartle Frere to the front and onto a world heritage listed rainforest to the back. It was on this property that I found the poplar gum trees we used for our 2 works, ‘Poplar Form I’ and ‘Poplar Still I’.

#4 Kingscliff, on the New South Wales and Queensland Border (Kerrin)

Kingscliff has to be one of my favourite beach locations. The sand is squeaky, fine and white and the water is crystal blue! There are whales cruising past and the birdlife is pretty spectacular too. Having lived there in my 20s this landscape holds a special place in my heart and I was lucky enough to visit it again in 2024 a couple of times. This beachscape has inspired many of our works to date including our pigface works, our pandanus works and our coastal hibiscus work. This year though we further explored coastal banksia in “Coastal Banksia Moment II’ as well as looking at coastal ferns such as swamp fern and creek fern.

#3 Port Stephens, Coastal New South Wales (Jacky) 

Taking my children now to where I grew up in Port Stephens, I realise how lucky I was to be surrounded by some of the most incredible beaches and vast stretches of marshlands and bushland. I was never short of anything to explore. Our 7 acres among the sand hills were covered in Syndey blue gums and banksias with a carpet of bracken perfect for hiding in if you laid still enough. I still find the warm embrace of these familiar trees when I visit my hometown as expressed through ‘Robur Moment I’ and ‘Sydney Blue Moment I’.

#2 Cairns, Far North Queensland (Kerrin)

Cairns is full of hometown vibes and rainforest daydreams for me. I grew up here in the 80s and have visited countless times since moving further south. I just love it. The moment the plane comes into land with the reef on one side and the mountain ranges on the other I just feel home. So it’s no surprise that we incorporated tropical plants into our work this year. It’s hard to go past the incredible fan palm which we used in ‘Fan Palm Moment I’ and ‘Fan Palm Moment II’ and also the beautiful native monstera in ‘Native Monstera Moment I’.

#1 Jacky – Logan, South East Queensland (Jacky)

There’s no place like home! Learning about the land around me and its seasons has been a wonderful way to feel more rooted in this place. Acacia Complanata was the first tree I learned about on our new property. In our efforts to re-wild the land these were the first pioneer species to show themselves. Nitrogen-fixing, fast-growing, shade-giving, bird and insect attracting, and so beautiful when flowering as evident in ‘Complanata Form I’… I think we all need a bit more Complanata in our lives!

We visited so many gorgeous places over the last year gathering ideas and inspiration for our art. We really are lucky here in Australia as there seems to be an incredible and unique landscape around every turn. We can’t wait to see what comes our way in 2025 but for now we hope you enjoy the little background stories of the landscapes, beaches and hometowns we visited in 2024 that produced so many of our original artworks this past year. Places that may even be revisited in our new art pieces for 2025.