Silver Dollar on a Rattan Chair

I collect foliage on my walks and Silver Dollar is my favourite species of Gum Tree.

On a wintery Melbourne day, I collected some fallen branches to take home and paint. I wanted to bring the sunshine in with this painting so I used a golden coloured pencil to add glow and texture to the background.

The rattan was extremely fun to create. This artwork is a little larger than usual for my work in watercolour so I enjoyed getting my bigger brushes out and I completed it in a few sessions.

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Jess has a Masters Degree in Fine Art and is based in Melbourne. She is currently studying Art Therapy and works as a Horticultural Therapist alongside her art practice.

Jess's art career went on hiatus in 2010 while she healed from a chronic illness, raised her daughter, studied in a new field and started a business. She's back at the easel and so excited to see where this new chapter of painting will take her. Connecting with the BlueThumb community is a great joy and honour for her.

Jess's new paintings are inspired by nature and her work as a Horticultural Therapist, where she helps people create wildflower meadows and medicinal herb gardens as a form of therapy. Jess combines her connection to plants with her decades-long experience as a colourist to create her paintings.