TBR: We are so excited to work with you. What can our clients expect from this curated collection?

Age: Thank you! There is a lot of colour in there and the colours all connect.

We are also launching one of the prints from my new collection. It’s exciting.

TBR: Your work is greatly influenced by travel. What was your most transformative travel experience yet and why?

Age: I feel like there’s been a series of moments that sing out to me.

Firstly, I think my first trip to Tuamotu Islands in Tahiti in 2016 was one of my favourite trips. I remember looking around almost in disbelief at how insanely beautiful it was.

I couldn’t believe my eyes! The water had so many shades of blue, it was so clear with such a healthy reef with so many different tropical fish and sharks. There was no rubbish - just people living in harmony with nature.

On the way out to the island, we were on the back of a seated truck going through small villages and I saw this sign of the island, which was a hand painted map of the atolls. It was so simple in its colours and way it was done, I thought, ‘That’s it - that’s the kind of thing I want in my home!’

I was craving to work with colour and push my work more at the time, which led to some new ideas and pushed me to paint large-scale pieces and develop my style of painting. On that same trip, I walked down to this little small beach. There was a Tahitian man in chest-high water, feeding leftover fish to the reef sharks while singing to them.

It was the sweetest thing I’d ever seen. He motioned for me to come into the water and gave me some fish to do the same. It was kind of wild but so nice to experience that gentle nature in a situation that can be sort of scary or a bit of a frenzy.

Another profound experience I’d say was doing my art residency in Hydra, Greece.

I had the most amazing women in my group from across the world and we are still great friends today. Those three weeks felt magic. It was like floating on a cloud just creating art and living slow on this island, having so much fun.

My father is Greek and I always wanted to do an art residency there, and randomly found this one in Hydra. I applied for it on a whim soon after leaving a full-time role and later that afternoon, I found out I got in and was due to leave five weeks later.

For years, the island has been known as a place for artists, poets, actors and all kinds of creatives and I feel like you can definitely feel it there.

TBR: What does your artistic process look like?

Age: For my artistic practice, I‘ve really felt that the breaks away from the brush are just as important as time on.

I’ve found when I am at the start of a concept idea, I need to have time to think and marinate on ideas, colours and words. I start with simple things, even imagining the sizes of the canvas, and then start to draw concepts.

It starts pretty loose but I do like to look at the collection as a whole as well as individually. I’ll get down some concepts, words, subject matter and then once I start to have my ideas come through more, I’ll do a more detailed drawing or, if I feel excited and like it’s time, I’ll throw myself into it.

For execution, I spend quite a bit of time texturing my canvases with many layers and paint my base colour and then start to fill in the details. Sometimes, I get a painting to about 80 to 90 per cent and sit on that for a little while just to make sure I like where the next direction is or explore another final touch to make it better than I originally thought.

That time of just sitting with work and stepping away from it but marinating on it all is one of the most important parts. I’m quite imaginative so I can see it in my mind, so that time helps me explore what feels right for that painting.