Zen Gum Leaves

This original botanical artwork was inspired by the feeling of calm when in nature and winter in Australia.

“I was feeling anxious and trapped during the covid lockdown last winter. It was a particularly miserable winter – there’d been a constant downpour for a few weeks, grey skies and window-rattling winds. I’d had enough of staying inside, saw a break in the rain and just went for it. I managed to make it around the block before it poured again, and passed through the park at the end of my street on my way back. Giant gum branches littered the park with their sculptural limbs. I grabbed a few large branches and excitedly made a mad dash home in the rain. And for the first time in weeks I felt creatively free again – just really excited to play and paint.

From these foraged gum branches emerged two gum leaf still life paintings. This particular still life painting embodied the idea of feeling zen and balanced after being out in nature.”

Artist acrylic paint on deep edge cotton canvas with painted edges.

Signature on the front.

Sealed with a semi-gloss varnish.

Ready to hang.

Size: 50.8 x 60.9 x 3.5 cm (20 x 24 x 1.4 inches)

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Vickie Liu is a Sydney-based artist (and the artist behind the brand ‘Studio KaKa Art’). She loves to paint vibrant artworks inspired by the beauty of nature, especially Australian natives and florals. Her background in design and architecture has influenced her appreciation of composition, details and colour – she loves bringing a sense of depth and space in all the pieces she creates.

You’ll usually find her at the flower markets, painting landscapes outdoors, exploring the botanical gardens or on bushwalks. She gathers her inspiration for still life paintings while outdoors and brings them back into her home studio where she creates her artworks – a foraged branch, photo references for painting, or flowers from the local growers.

With each artwork, she loves to focus on what drew her to the subject in the first place – sometimes it’s the scent of the flower, their quirky floral shapes, or the way the sunlight hits the vase (which seems to open up the room with dancing light and colour)! Her creative process involves developing these ideas further with compositional pencil sketches before committing paint to canvas. Each artwork is created using acrylic paints on stretched canvas, gouache or watercolour on paper.

Her love of nature is reflected in her detailed work and she aims to capture its wild beauty through paint and to share that joy with you.

You can bring a little colour and joy into your home with one of Vickie’s artworks. They are available as original paintings or fine art prints.