gumdots

How I started and why:
I was on maternity leave after having my second baby, and I started drawing as a form of mindfulness to help with anxiety. I illustrated a few pieces for friends and family, and then began getting requests from them for artwork that they could give to their friends. After a while I decided to start the business and with word of mouth, and social media, it grew from there.

I love all animals and plants, especially native Australian species, as they are beautiful, unique and remind me of home. I do not want to see them disappear through extinction, and this passion has driven me through my career at Perth Zoo and also my business with gumdots. Education is an essential part of conservation, as people protect what they know and love, and through my drawings (and associated information that I provide), I want to spark a love of these species in any person that I can.

What is a gumdot?:
Well, at first I really had no idea what I wanted to call my business, but I didn’t want the absence of a perfect name to hold me back from starting, so I just dived in! All I knew is that I wanted to create a new word because being unique and authentic is so important to me.

I wanted the word to be inspired by both my artwork subjects and the style of my drawing. My deep love of eucalyptus is where ‘gum’ originated, and my frequent use of dots in my drawings accounts for the other half! Most of my drawings have a gum blossom somewhere, and I always ‘dot’ their pollen on. These are what I call ‘gumdots’.