Reflections on My Year Studying Visual Arts by Lara-Jane Stewart
- Lara-Jane Stewart
- May 2
- 3 min read
Updated: May 4
This past year (2024), I returned to study and began a Diploma of Visual Arts. I wasn’t sure exactly where it would lead, but I knew I wanted to go deeper — into my creativity, into my practice, into myself.
What unfolded was more than I could have imagined.
A Return to the Heart of My Practice
My hope going into the course was to refine my skills, develop a stronger technical foundation and more professional practice overall. But what I found, more than anything, was a return to the essence of how I create — in an intuitive, process-led way that is deeply rooted in feeling, rhythm, and connection.
Time and time again, I was pulled back to what inspires me most: the natural world. The lines of leaves, the quiet rhythms of trees, the hush of a breeze — the way everything in nature feels both intricate and alive. It was this sense of wonder that became the heartbeat of my work.
Nature as Muse and Mirror
As part of my major project, I focused on my personal relationship with nature. Not just as inspiration, but as collaborator and companion.
Whether I was painting, sketching, or experimenting with clay, I kept returning to what I feel when I’m immersed in the natural world — that sense of calm, of aliveness, of something larger than myself... A visceral, felt sense of the immaterial as much as the material.
Creating from that place was both grounding and expansive. It felt like a remembering.
Creative Practice as Connection
One of the biggest takeaways from this year has been just how closely my creative wellbeing is tied to my relationship with nature. The more time I spend paying attention — really noticing — the more connected and creatively fulfilled I feel.
My art practice is, at its core, a conversation: with the land, with my materials, with my own inner landscape. And in those conversations, I find stillness, clarity, and purpose.
Moving Forward With Gratitude
I’m so grateful for this year of exploration and growth. Studying visual art has helped me return to the parts of myself that feel most true. It’s deepened my devotion to creativity — not just as something I do, but as something I live by.
It was also a wonderful opportunity to build many new connections with other like-minded creative and artistic souls, both inside and outside of the course. And through these connections, discover yet more little rabbit holes of creative enrichment and new and interesting artistic opportunities, quietly waiting in the wings of the wider community.
Since graduating, life has continued to be full with a variety of professional development activities. I've had the pleasure of participating in a couple of wonderfully diverse group shows and one fantastic artist residency program at the Cooroy Butter Factory Arts Centre, as well as the ongoing deepening of my personal creative arts practice and preparations for upcoming exhibitions.
I’m excited to keep creating, keep experimenting, and keep honouring the inspiration I find in the natural world and in the quiet rhythms of daily life. And I'm equally excited to keep sharing my passion for igniting and celebrating the creativity that others have to share, and inspiring deeper connections with the divine, the natural world, and our human hearts.
Thanks for being here with me.
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