Nathalia is a self-taught painter based in Wurundjeri Country, Melbourne. Her work is distinguished by vibrant, saturated colour and a strong pop art aesthetic.
She explores, spiritual iconography, psychedelia, various folk-art movements and textile design. ‘Follow your bliss’ is the mantra at the heart of all her work, a meditative practice allowing her stay present and find the beauty within. The interview below shares insight into her creative process and many sources of inspiration.
So Nat, what is a typical day in the studio like for you?
I like to start the day slowly and try to fit in a solid breakfast, yoga/meditation session and a walk, before I get into ‘work’ mode. Depending on what part of the creative journey I’m in, my day could include sketching concepts on the iPad, mixing and testing colours, painting or embellishing my art. I like to work to uplifting music or listen to podcasts/audiobooks whilst I paint. Once I get into the flow of whatever I’m doing I tend to be fully absorbed in the task, it can be hard for me to stop - sometimes it’ll be 3pm before I realise that I haven’t eaten lunch eeek! Despite ‘work’ being mostly fun for me, I’m trying to better this aspect of my personality and practice, to achieve a healthier pace and work/rest balance. I try to wrap things up around 5:30pm, but having a home studio also means I can get into gear whenever inspiration strikes, sometime this happens fairly late into the evening and I find myself painting into the wee hours.
Your work is always so vibrant and saturated in both colour and pattern, can you tell us about the role colour plays in your art?
I am so attracted to colour, it hits me in the feeler in such a magnificent way - vibrant, saturated colours especially evoke a sense of intense joy and vivacity in me, they inspire me to create. So of course I want to boldly suffuse my work, my home, my being, everything with colour. It has the power to excite and uplift and dramatically enhance an environment. I especially love using a complimentary palette to create high contrast/high energy schemes that are paradoxically clashing and harmonising at once. I typically favour deeply saturated hues, but have been dabbling with muted tones and pastels in recent times and am really vibing on the palette depths I’m achieving.
What do you draw on to inspire / influence your work?
Travel has proven to be the most bountiful font of inspiration in my life - I’m always eager to set off to exotic places and almost always return with a burning desire to capture the essence of trip. I’ve massively influenced by the rich language of patterns I’ve encountered in traditional folk-art movements around the world, and the naïve representations of form in indigenous and pre-Columbian art. A life changing experience with entheogenic plants and shamanic healing practices in Peru in 2016 has indelibly changed my worldview and continues to influence my art practice today.
You’ve got a background in interior design; can you tell us how this influences your art practice?
I find it hard to draw a hard line between the artist & designer, I feel there are many natural crossover qualities and skills. Both are very visual disciplines, so I’m constantly training my eye in the search of balance, harmony and beauty. The interior designer has accrued a lot of practical, project management experience that has proved extremely useful to the artist, especially in the realm of brand collaborations and translating artwork into other mediums like fashion, textiles, packaging etc. I often find myself looking for ways to blur the boundaries of these two creative worlds and am presently dreaming up a homewares collection of rugs and wallpaper which feature my art, watch this space.
Can you tell us about the work you’ve made for Good Times?
‘Follow your bliss’ is the mantra that I strive to live and paint by. For this collection, which emerged during a particularly turbulent time in my personal life, I made a very intentional point to focus on whatever moments of bliss I could find, however small they may have felt at the time, and not question the ‘creative muse’ when she did dare pop her head up – basically get out of my head and out of creativity’s way. I’m delighted with how this collection has turned out, despite feeling like I was operating on half a tank and without a plan at times; the process felt less rational and more emotional, spiritual, cathartic - it’s been a wonderful lesson in trust for me as artist and I’m delighted with the works created, they appear to have tapped into an internal source of joy and beauty, that in retrospect transformed hard-times into good-times.
What is your favourite colour? Any reason?
I consistently love Cadmium Orange and Hot Pink, but I'm currently obsessed with Lemon Butter Yellow, especially paired with Blood Red. But ask me again next week, I’m likely to have fallen for another.
Have you got a studio? Tell us a bit about where you create and some of the things that inspire your practice.
I currently have a home studio in Melbourne, it’s a compact light-filled space which I share with my cat Chi-Chi. We are surrounded by a lot of greenery and have regular bird visitors, it’s a really nice vibe. I like to keep the space tidy, but the creative process cyclically tips us into a chaotic mess of paint and sparkles. I love the convenience of working at home and never being too far from the studio means I can quickly respond when inspiration strikes.
When do you do your best work?
A lot of my best ideas come to me when I’m walking or in the shower, so maybe I make my best work when I’m not even working haha.
View Nathalia’s collection here
View Good Times collection here
