The lines of colours encourage the viewer to pause and observe the subtle, often overlooked moments in nature— reflecting on the delicate lavenders and pinks of eucalyptus bark, or the vibrant hues of fungi hidden beneath layers of foliage found along the paths nearby. Clare’s background as a painter deeply informs her artistic practice. You can sense her keen attention to the environment, where even the smallest shifts in light, texture, and colour speak volumes. Through her expertise in colour, Clare translates these observations of the minute into a large-scale mural that mirrors both the bold and quiet transformations of landscape. Look Closely invites you to slow down, connect with your surroundings, and discover the often-hidden, layered beauty and colour within nature.

Artists Biography

Clare Scanlan has qualifications in Fine Art (painting), as well as Painting and Decorating, along with a decade developing colour for a boutique commercial paint brand. This skill-set results in her studio, Scanlan & Makers, developing and applying custom coating-systems using paints, plasters, and pigments that are as intuitive as they are technical, and always designed to powerfully impact the feeling of a space. Clare is passionate about researching and utilising local colour, which includes grinding locally sourced pigments, creating handmade natural paints, using recycled or ‘waste’ materials and matching colour from the local environment. This sees Clare digging local clay onsite, colour-matching native flora, boiling avocado pits for ink, hassling her network of manufacturers for new and innovative locally made products, or chipping away layers of paint to reveal original stained plaster walls in historic buildings.