Luxurious, contemporary oil paintings
Cottage-gardens and florals, trees, landscapes, and seascapes painted for discerning collectors who value story, depth, texture, and emotional resonance.
My art...
I am an Australian-based painter whose large-scale oil paintings explore florals, trees, and landscapes through a lens of contemporary romanticism. My practice sits at the intersection of narrative, texture, and emotional depth.
I live on acreage in Samford Valley, just outside of Brisbane, where slow mornings and wide skies influence my palette and shape the rhythm of my days. At dawn, as espresso brews on the stove and birdsong carries across the valley, I sit with my dogs, read, and watch the light move through the trees. Nature, literature, music, and long walks are not simply pleasures — they are the quiet architecture behind my life; they inform every work I paint.
I create large-scale, bespoke oil paintings for private collectors and select galleries. All paintings are available for purchase directly through my studio and select galleries in Australia. Working with my palette knife and brush, I build richly sculpted paintings - generously layered blooms, expansive canopies of trees, romantic landscapes that invite immersion. My signature palette includes deep, resonant blues; layered botanical winter and spring greens; delicate pinks and lemon-butter yellows; muted autumnal rusted orange; and quinacridone maroon and mulberry. These classic colours see beyond trends. The surface texture renders the work dimensional and alive — colours shift subtly as natural light moves across the painting throughout the day, in to the evening. Collectors frequently share that the work reveals new details over time. This sense of discovery is intentional.
A bespoke painting is not decorative — it is anchoring. It becomes part of your visual history. It sits as witness to birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, and ordinary days that later become extraordinary in memory. Photographs will be taken in front of it. Friends, family, fur-babies will grow beside it. It is ever-present in the unfolding of your life.
Selecting the right work — or commissioning one — is therefore an act of discernment and intention. My exhibitions consistently sell out, and I maintain a considered commission list. Today, the majority of my practice is dedicated to bespoke works for private collectors in the UK, Europe, Canada, the United States, Australia, Israel, and Sri Lanka.
My Story...
Born in England to a Moroccan father and British mother, I spent much of my childhood in Vancouver, Canada. I hold both a BA and MA in cultural anthropology and worked for over twenty-two years in the global resources sector, focusing on socio-economic development in remote and rural communities in over 12 countries. My work included partnerships with the World Bank and international NGOs, with particular emphasis on women and children.
Art, however, was always the undercurrent. As a child, I was captivated by the work of Emily Carr, Jack Shadbolt, Bill Reid, Pablo Picasso, and Claude Monet — artists who, in vastly different ways, honoured the natural world with conviction and reverence. They invited me in to their world of colour and movement on the canvas; I was enchanted. My busy curious brain was spellbound. I remember feeling very still, very engaged, and wonderfully lost in the colours, the sweeping lines, the depth and the story; the celebration of nature.
I wish to offer the same ‘pause” to you. In 2016, at 44, I made the deliberate decision to pursue painting full-time. I relocated part-time to Florence, Italy, and immersed myself in eighteen months of studio practice, museum pilgrimages, market shopping, gallery scouring, gelato eating, long train rides and wonderful steep walks through the Tuscan hills. It was an intensely formative period for me and shaped the romantic sensibility present in my work today. It further altered how I engage in everyday life, more meandering, less hurry. My time in Florence marked the beginning of this chapter in my life.
My aesthetic is layered and warm rather than cool minimalism — more heirloom timber and unique treasures than sharp-edged restraint. I believe the most magical of homes evolve slowly. They are layered, collected, and deeply personal. They hold books and conversation, quiet corners and generous tables. They celebrate colour, texture, art, plants, animals, and shared meals. I am drawn to depth, patina, texture, and spaces that tell a story.
I paint full-time from my studio at the Lifestyle Centre on Mt Glorious Road in Samford Valley. Surrounded by big gum trees, birds, and valley light, it is here that each work is developed from first sketch to final varnish.
Here you will be invited to peruse my creative process and the final available works. You will also meet my constant companions, my two Labradors, Theo and Louis. Private studio viewings are available by appointment.
For sales, commission enquiries, or collaborations please contact
Jamila: +61 409 309 193
jamila@jamilahumeart.com
To receive advance notice of exhibitions, releases, workshops, and my 'Musings' newsletter, I invite you to join my mailing list.
Warmly,
Jamila
Featured in
TARA’S STORY
“‘Spring Carnival’ gives me a feeling of childlike enchantment, of getting lost in a secret tree lined garden of wildflowers. There is depth and joy in this painting and it brings so much life to my room.
I first saw ‘Spring Carnival’ online instantly had that feeling that if there were a work to describe where my mind wanders - this was it.
I was overseas during the exhibition period and thought about this work daily. Upon my return home, by great luck, this work was still available and I knew it was meant to be mine.
I have had nothing but lovely communications with Jamila. I am forever thankful to Jamila for creating such a beautiful work that will take my mind to the garden for a lifetime. ”
- Tara, Sydney Australia