Painting Tasmania: Capturing Stillness, Wildlife, and Untamed Beauty
This is the next artwork in my This is Australia series, a collection that began as a personal creative break between commissions and gradually grew into a wider exploration of Australia through illustration, memory, and visual storytelling.
Tasmania became a different kind of piece within the series.
Unlike Queensland or Western Australia, it wasn’t a place shaped by lived experience or personal milestones. Instead, Tasmania was a place I came to know visually, through years of working as a designer in the 4WD magazine industry.
I spent countless hours working with photography from across the country, and Tasmania always stood apart.
Knowing a place through images
Tasmania felt quieter. Slower. More remote.
The landscapes carried a kind of stillness that was different from the vast openness of Western Australia or the warmth of Queensland. There was a softness to it. Dense forests. Cool air. Ancient terrain that felt largely untouched.
Even without visiting, those images stayed with me.
As a designer, you spend hours closely observing photographs, adjusting composition, colour, and layout. Over time, you begin to understand a place visually, even if you’ve never physically stood there. Tasmania became familiar to me in that way, built slowly through exposure rather than experience.
Translating Tasmania into artwork
When I began planning the Tasmania piece, I approached it differently.
Instead of drawing from personal memory, I drew from the collective visual identity Tasmania holds. The native flora, the wildlife, and the distinctive landscapes that make it instantly recognisable.
The composition focused on balance and calm, allowing each element space to breathe. Tasmania didn’t call for density or contrast in the same way as some of the other states. It called for restraint.
It became less about capturing my own story, and more about honouring the character of the place itself.
Expanding the meaning of the series
Creating Tasmania helped me realise something important about the This is Australia series.
Not every connection to a place comes from living there. Some come from observation. From exposure. From spending years immersed in imagery, stories, and visual culture.
Tasmania became a reminder that this series isn’t just about where I’ve been. It’s about how Australia exists in my memory, my work, and my imagination.
Each state adds another layer.
You can follow the ongoing This is Australia series and see the remaining states over on Instagram at @laura.hamzic.art.
What happens next
I’ll be releasing This is Australia: Tasmania as a fine art print as part of the growing collection, with plans already unfolding for future releases inspired by the series.
If you’d like to be the first to know when prints and future releases become available, you can join my email list below and I’ll keep you updated as the collection continues to evolve.