Azure Collection — Bold Blues, Deep Teals, Modern & Abstract
The Azure Collection didn't begin with a plan. It began with a single painting in 2018.
Blue Banksia was the first piece — a modern abstract still life of Australian banksias in a palette of deep blues, teals and charcoal. I painted it almost as an experiment. A deliberate shift from the expressive, colour-saturated work I'd been making. A question I wanted to answer: what does Australian native flora look like when you strip the palette right back and let the form and composition do the work?
The answer turned out to be something I loved. But at the time, it was just one painting.
Lockdown and the Studio
Two years later, everything stopped.
Our jewellery business closed almost overnight when the COVID lockdowns began in 2020. The showroom, the clients, the wholesale orders — all of it gone in a matter of weeks. For the first time in years I had long stretches of unstructured time at home.
So I went back to the studio. And I went back to that blue palette.
Blue Proteas and Australian Blue Flora came out of that period — both painted with the same deliberate restraint as Blue Banksia. Blues, teals, charcoal. The deep rich tones of the ocean rather than the pale washes of typical coastal art. Not chinoiserie. Not blue and white. Something more elevated and non-traditional — colours that felt distinctly Australian but sat in a contemporary interior without looking decorative or predictable.
I was thinking about specific spaces when I painted them. Contemporary homes. Coastal homes. Hamptons-style interiors. Spaces that wanted something with real presence — a piece that anchors a room rather than just sits on a wall.
Australia Blue Proteas Art Print. Shop now →
Australia Blue Bush Flora Art Print. Shop now →
Pulling It Together
With three strong paintings in the same palette, the collection started to take shape.
Wild Blue Bunch and Native Blue Bunch came next — a pair of modern still life paintings in tonal blues and deep charcoal that pushed the abstract direction further. Then Moody Blues. Each piece adding something slightly different to the palette while staying within the same considered, contemporary aesthetic.
When I made the silk scarf using Blue Proteas, I gave the collection its name — Azure. It felt right. Not blue as a descriptor, but Azure as a mood. Deeper. More considered. More specific.
Blue Banksia Botanical Wall Art Print. Shop now →
Wild Blue Bunch Abstract Art Print. Shop now →
Six Paintings, One Palette
The Azure Collection now spans six paintings — Blue Banksia, Blue Proteas, Australian Blue Flora, Wild Blue Bunch, Native Blue Bunch and Moody Blues — all united by that same deliberate palette.
Blue Banksia has been licensed for bedding and fabric and still sells as fabric today. It's also on cards and the wooden accessories range. Blue Proteas became the Protea Azure Silk Scarf. The others have extended into tea towels, more cards, wooden accessories and gift sets.
These paintings have become some of my personal favourites and best sellers — which still surprises me a little, given how different they are from the rest of the studio. There's something about this palette that connects with people in a way that goes beyond the expected. The blues feel calm without being cold. Contemporary without being clinical.
Protea Azure Silk Scarf. Shop now →
Blue Banksia Tea Towel & Coaster Set. Shop now →
A Different Kind of Australian Art
Most Australian botanical art leans warm — ochres, pinks, terracottas, the colours of the land. Azure goes the other way. It's the colours of deep water. Of early morning light on the coast. Of something cooler and more elemental.
It's still unmistakably Australian. The banksias and proteas are there. The native flora is there. But translated into a palette that feels genuinely contemporary — not the expected colours, not the expected style. You can explore the full range of blue-palette work in the Blue Wall Art Prints collection or dive straight into the Azure Collection itself.
That's what I was looking for when I painted Blue Banksia in 2018. It took a lockdown and five more paintings to fully find it.
Shop the Azure Collection
Art prints, silk scarves, tea towels, wooden accessories and gift sets. Bold blues, deep teals and charcoal.
Azure Collection · Blue Wall Art Prints · Botanical Wall Art · About Kirsten
