The Dreamy Still Life Paintings Of Brooke Holiday

Welcome to Brooke Holiday’s beautiful Melbourne home studio! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

Plum walls and colourful pieces around her workspace aptly reflect the dreamy vibe of Brooke’s paintings. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

Brooke Holiday inside her Coburg period home. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

She’s been working from the space for about a year. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

Brooke sketches out a plan for a still-life painting. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

Brooke says her painting’s capture ‘moments observed and life lived’. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

‘[I find inspiration] everywhere! It could be the tenderness with which a lover prepares the necessary ingredients to woo their beau, the passing of tradition through Sundays spent making stuffed vegetables with my grandmother or the way the grocers at the markets masterfully arranging a crate of melons.’ Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

‘I have always enjoyed thrifting at markets and second-hand stores and have a much-treasured collection of vintage table ware, textiles, objects and frames. I try to produce my work as sustainably as possible and repurposing vintage frames is usually where my process begins,’ Brooke says. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

Then she visits her local markets to find the perfect subject matter – often fresh fruits and vegetables – for her still-life scenes. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

She expertly captures organic details and textures. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

Her return to painting comes after a lecturer knocked her confidence back in university – but in our opinion, there’s absolutely no disputing the beauty of her work or talent! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

One of her pieces in progress. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

‘The house has period features throughout and by extension, my studio is trimmed with decadent drapes, plum walls, and gold hardware,’ Brooke says. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

‘It provides the perfect stage for setting my paintings which, can often feel like an exercise in extravagance.’ Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files

‘Hard But Soft’ by Brooke Holiday.

‘Lick The Knife’ by Brooke Holiday.

‘Prayer 1‘ by Brooke Holiday.

Brooke Holiday is a bit of a creative chameleon. The Melbourne-based artist has degrees in fine art and arts management, and spent her 20s working in the fashion industry across design, costuming and production.

But painting was always her primary focus, until a lecturer in university told her she ‘couldn’t paint’.

‘I didn’t make any work for a great deal of time after that, and it affected my sense of self-belief in my ability as artist,’ Brooke says. Then in 2020, she found herself with more free time than ever, and a newfound nostalgia for shared moments with friends and family.

‘This sparked a desire to capture the beauty of those moments (so often shared across a dinner table) before they are resigned to memory,’ Brooke explains.

Since then, Brooke’s return to painting over the last three years has been an era of ‘personal renaissance’. And her ethereal pieces are a triumphant reflection of that. Now she juggles the rewarding, but ‘chaotic dance’, of teaching art at local schools and her job as a Pilates instructor, along with working two days a week in her home studio.

‘My home provides the perfect stage for setting my paintings which, can often feel like an exercise in extravagance,’ Brooke adds.

Brooke’s process itself is equal parts indulgent and sustainable. It normally starts with thrifting a vintage frame for the painting, before visiting the local market for some seasonal produce, looking for anything that is ‘visually interesting, and exciting to contemplate consuming later’.

Naturally, there’s a bit of styling, photographing, and plenty of painting, but the final component ‘is always a feast of the subject matter shared with loved ones’ that brings her work full circle.

It’s this intimate moment that helps shape the ‘mood’ of the final piece, carried by dreamy pastel tones and layered brushstrokes, freezing these memories in time. And they’re positively beautiful!

Shop Brooke Holiday’s work through her website here