Hi there! I’m Monica, a Sydney-based artist and illustrator working in a variety of mediums, primarily watercolour and needlecraft.
I am also a paintings conservator with a love of modern and contemporary art.

My work is inspired by the forms, textures, and colours found in nature. I love flowers, fruits and vegetables, insects, sunlight, and the sea.

Working in watercolours allows me to capture the softness and luminosity of the subjects I love.

After moving back to Sydney in 2021 and immediately entering a three month lockdown, I took up embroidery. My mum had been embroidering, knitting, and sewing for as long as I could remember and I remember always admiring the tiny beautiful bullion knot roses she stitched. She gave me her needlecraft materials, including a beautiful polished beechwood hoop, and I started stitching. I’ve since developed a love for highly textured stumpwork and creating abstract works of art that grow and flow as organically as the natural world that inspires them.

Here is some more neatly organised information about myself:

Mediums
Watercolours, pen and ink, coloured pencil, acrylics, cotton thread, fabric, beads.

Education
2019 - MA Conservation of Fine Art (Easel Paintings) with Distinction, Northumbria University
2015 - BA (Art History, Chemistry), The University of Sydney

Other things I like
Bees, sea glass, early morning beach swims, live comedy, perfume, Dungeons & Dragons, trying to learn Portuguese, adhesives, Talking Heads, daiquiris, bananas.