There's a quiet confidence to Eliza's paintings, the kind that comes from someone who has stopped rushing to fill the wall. A Melbourne-based artist known for her attentive, light-filled interiors and still lifes, Eliza's work has always felt like an exercise in noticing. Since becoming a mother, that practice of noticing has only deepened.
For this instalment of the Darl' Icons Series, we spoke with Eliza to talk shadow, discipline, ritual, and the unexpected ways early motherhood has reshaped her creative life.
Your work often explores texture, light, and space in subtle ways. How do you attune yourself to these details, and what practices help you stay present to them?
I think it's something that's developed over time. At art school I was really looking at artists like David Hockney and Alex Katz and how they used light and shadow.
Now it feels a bit more instinctive. I notice light all the time. I'll take photos of small things, like a branch casting a shadow on a wall or a chair creating a pattern on the floor, these moments finding their way into my paintings.
If you look closely at some of my works however the shadows won't at all make sense going this way and that, either by accident or because the composition demands it.
Outside the studio, what experiences, environments, or relationships shape your perspective and influence your creative choices?
Walking is where I do all my thinking and decide what I will paint and why.
If I'm stuck technically that's when I will look to other artists. At the moment I'm playing around with lino cuts and so closely looking at Ethel Spowers and early 20th century lino artists. I will just stare at a work trying to see the layers and the way it was made.
After finishing a work my husband Benj is my sounding board, he's an architect so tends to look at things with a great critical design eye.
Slowing down leads to stronger work, and there's no real need to fill a wall.
Creativity can be unpredictable, what's one small, personal habit or ritual that helps you stay grounded and inspired each day?
Walking always helps me think creatively, a bit of time without my phone, in the fresh air, usually brings ideas.
I also keep a journal, sketches and writing, where I record thoughts, ideas, life events, and little drawings. No one sees it, so there's no pressure for anything to be finished or to look a certain way.
Art-making can demand sustained energy and focus. How do you pace yourself to maintain both creative clarity and personal wellbeing?
I tend to move between small and large works.
The smaller ones are where I figure things out - they're more focused and I can sit down, so it's less physically demanding. The larger works usually come from those, so the composition is already there, but they're much more physical, lots of standing, bigger movements.
I think having both is really important. One is more about thinking, the other is more about doing.
If you could gift your younger self one daily practice to support creativity and balance, what would it be and why?
Probably just time. Or trusting that things take time.
When you're starting out, there's this urgency to make as much as possible to "fill" gallery walls. That was useful in some ways, as it helped me improve my painting quickly, but a lot of the work was rushed.
Now I know that slowing down leads to stronger work, and there's no real need to fill a wall.
Since having your baby, what's one unexpected way your daily life or creative practice has shifted, and has it taught you anything surprising about patience, balance, or self-care?
It's made me slow down, which can often be great for my work.
I'll work for an hour or two, then step away and come back once she is napping again. That break gives me a bit of distance, so I'm seeing things more clearly when I return. It's far from perfect and often frustrating not to be able to finish a colour or being snapped out of the zone but I feel very lucky to be able to continue to work and be a mum at home. The quiet pace of a baby's life is very conducive.
Check out Elizas work at https://www.elizagosse.com/