Max Hamilton in studio

Max Hamilton from MH Design is one of our exciting newest featured artists. Her illustrations are printed onto our fabric for acoustic and non-acoustic art as well as wall panelling. She uses mainly watercolours and pencils and takes her inspiration from Australian wildlife.

The first collection consists of 13 artworks of beautiful detailed botanics, which can be viewed through our Image Library App.

We are ecstatic to be launching this range, and were able to have a chat with Max to discuss into more depth her design processes.

9 Questions For Artist Max Hamilton…

Illustration of banksia
Banksia Man

illustration of protea, Max Hamilton
Protea

Tell us a little about where you are from…

I’m an illustrator living in Sydney and work from a home studio overlooking my leafy garden.

How do you draw design inspiration from your local area in particular? 

The Royal National Park is not far from my home so I use the flora and fauna found within the park and surrounding areas as a huge inspiration for my work. I am also visited daily by beautiful Australian native birds.

painting of wattle
Painting of Wattle

Tell us about your career path.

My studies began with fine art at COFA and graphic design at Enmore Design Centre. I have worked as a textile designer, graphic designer and now mainly focus on illustration and my art prints, specialising in children’s book illustration.

artist painting
Art in progress
art illustration of magnolia
Black & White Magnolia 02

How does your personality translate to your designs?

I appreciate the little details in everything, whether it be the texture of a banksia pod to the cheeky look in a kookaburra’s eyes. This attention to detail is reflected within my work.

Describe a typical day for you.

A typical day starts with coffee and some muesli, followed by a short walk with my dog.  I then check emails and do some paperwork before getting stuck in to my next project. 1-2 days is usually spent working on each artwork and the majority of these are created using watercolour or pencil. I spent many years creating artworks on a computer and am absolutely loving creating artworks by hand.

What is your process for when you feel creatively blocked?

When creatively blocked I create rough sketches and look through my library of books. This helps the creativity to flow!

Max Hamilton profile
Max in her studio
illustration of Banksia art
Banksia
illustration of waratah
Waratah

Describe something that you’ve struggled with but learnt from.

Sometimes starting work on a completely new type of project can stifle my creativity and self doubt can creep in.  When this happens I try to think about what I have achieved in the past and about all the different skills I have gained. Looking back on what you have achieved can also make the task at hand less daunting.

What is your all-time favourite art from your own collection? 

 I love the wattle design because it makes me feel happy every time I look at it. This particular artwork was created from a piece of wattle picked right outside my front door so I love that inspiration can be found anywhere as long as your eyes are open.

Wattle design Max Hamilton

What’s the most exciting thing about the next thing you’re doing?

 I am working on an art installation project with Materialised for Sunday Road Brewery. I’m so excited about this project as we are raising money for WIRES Wildlife Rescue and I love art that has such a great purpose. Sunday Road is in an unusual industrial space and they are bringing art to their patrons in a bid to support local artists.

I have also recently started work on illustrating my second children’s book with Windy Hollow Books which is very exciting.


With thanks to Max Hamilton, we look forward to seeing this collection blossom!

For any assistance or questions about this collection you can contact us here.

illustration of orchid
Orchid
illustration of gum blossom
Black & White Gum Blossom 01
illustration of king protea
King Protea
illustration of camellia
Camellia

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *