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When Kate Owens entered our Bravery Design competition for 2022, there was no difficulty in our decision that she was headed straight to our audience vote. The struggle came when we had to decide which of her entries we would put through to our final selection! We landed on her aptly named design "Walking through the Unicorn Forrest", a cheeky and cheerful artwork that feels oh-so-whimsical. She incorporates her trademark blooms, vibrant selection of colours and lush textural layers in a design that has already become a Bravery Fam favourite. We are SO thrilled you all love this clever lady's work as much as we do.
Em x
Tell us a little about the person behind the art piece - who is Kate Owen?
I’m an abstract artist living in rural northern NSW married to my farmer hubby Michael, we have two beautiful boys who have flown the nest. I work full time from my purpose-built studio a short walk from the house. It’s an oasis of creativity for me and my happy place. I studied fashion design at college and went on to work in the industry for a time but have had a very checkered career from fashion and homewares to cafes and special occasion baking but I revel in the luxury of being able to paint full time now.
Your piece quickly became a favourite amongst the humans behind Bravery and we were SO thrilled when our followers seemed to love it as much as we do. Beautiful floral forms find their way into many of your designs. How have flowers become the source of your works inspiration?
I work intuitively and floral shapes are what seem to come out most of the time, I think this is because ultimately I want to convey happiness and joy and what is more joyful than beautiful blooms? It’s also about particular types of shapes that I like to make and these lend themselves to unruly floral landscapes, with a bit of beloved cactus thrown in of course.
You mentioned in your entry that you hoped to offer “a joyous bit of colour and fun to give people a lift when battling this insidious disease.” We love your colour palette and the vibrant pops of pink feature not only in this design, but all your work. Have you always worked with these beautiful colours, or has it evolved over time?
I have always had a tendency towards colour, it’s a very emotional attachment for me and I love to experiment with colour combinations but I do have my favourites and of course pink is central for me, which does surprise me as I never loved it as a child but adore it now.
We love the name “Walking through the Unicorn Forest”. How do you come up with a title for each of your designs and what inspired the whimsical name of this one?
Sometimes a title for a work will just pop into my head as I am working on a piece depending on the mood or music I happen to be listening to or my morning walk is a good time for thinking about words and titles. Occasionally a work will have a specific inspiration from a particular place or memory and the title will come from that but in the case of Walking Through the Unicorn Forest, it’s pure whimsy! The piece just felt fantastical to me and the colours so wacky plus in the design you can see a bit of a ‘landscape’ with what could be a tree or two which may be stretching the imagination but it’s about as realistic as my work gets!
Do you have a message you would like to send to the warriors who get to wear your design?
Wear it with confidence, it will only accentuate beauty that you already have inside.