Native Blooms: An Inverloch Paint & Sip Experience

There’s something rather special about taking a little piece of Inverloch home with you, especially when you’ve created it yourself.

Native Blooms: Inverloch’s Still-Life Paint & Sip Experience invites visitors to slow down, look closely and get creative in the welcoming garden studio of Inverloch artist Dr Carla van Laar. Inspired by the native flora growing in Carla’s garden on Boon Wurrung Country, this is a relaxed and wonderfully personal creative experience for families, friends, birthday groups, visitors and private groups of 6–12 people.

And there’s no need to consider yourself an artist. No previous painting experience is necessary.

Your own piece of Inverloch

Native Blooms is a little different from a traditional Paint & Sip. Rather than everyone painting the same picture, guests are presented with an abundance of native flowers and foliage and invited to choose the plants, colours, shapes and textures that catch their eye.

Each person then creates their own still-life composition, meaning no two artworks are the same.

Carla guides participants through an accessible multimedia painting process using ink, pastels and acrylic paint, building the artwork through a series of creative, layered steps. The emphasis isn't on creating a perfect copy of the flowers in front of you. Instead, it’s about noticing what inspires you and developing your own creative interpretation.

The result is a genuinely individual artwork to take home, a handcrafted souvenir of your time in Inverloch.

Slow down, create and connect

At the heart of Native Blooms is Carla’s own painting practice of neosensorialism, an approach to creativity grounded in sensory experience and in strengthening our connection with our own creative nature, the living world and one another.

It’s an invitation to pause for a while. To notice the colour of a flower, the shape of a leaf or the texture of a piece of foliage. To see what catches your attention and let that become the starting point for something entirely your own.

It’s also an opportunity to spend quality time with the people you’ve come to Inverloch with, sharing discoveries, conversations and plenty of creative moments along the way.

A recent Native Blooms afternoon

The experience grew from a private workshop Carla hosted for ten visitors to Inverloch. The group brought together friends of different ages from Australia, France and Venezuela for an afternoon immersed in the beauty of the local flora.

The inspiration for their artwork was an abundance of Golden Wattle and Birthday Candle Bottlebrush, collected from Carla’s native garden.

After enjoying drinks and exploring Carla’s home exhibition, the group moved into her garden studio for two hours of painting. Although everyone worked from the same collection of flora, each person chose their own composition and produced a completely different finished artwork.

It was a wonderful example of what makes Native Blooms so appealing. The finished paintings were special, but so was the experience of creating them together.

Inspiration is on your doorstep

For Carla, Native Blooms is about much more than painting.

“Inspiration is always on our doorstep. I created Native Blooms as a way for visitors to connect with the beauty of Inverloch’s living world, with their own creative nature and with one another. Everyone chooses the native flora that draws their attention and creates something completely individual. They leave not only with their own handcrafted souvenir of Inverloch, but with the memory of a lovely afternoon spent creating together.”

Meet Dr Carla van Laar

Dr Carla van Laar is an Inverloch-based artist, Creative and Experiential Therapist, educator and researcher whose work explores the relationships between creativity, the living world, connection and wellbeing.

Her welcoming garden studio is surrounded by native plants and local artwork, creating an intimate and inspiring setting for small-group creative experiences.

Native Blooms can be booked for groups of 6–12 people, making it a wonderful option for friends and families holidaying together, birthdays, celebrations or simply an afternoon doing something a little different while you're in Inverloch.

Guests are welcome to bring their own wine, with glasses and light refreshments provided.

So, if you’re looking for an Inverloch experience that combines creativity, native flora, good company and a little time to slow down, Native Blooms might just be the perfect addition to your stay.

Come for the flowers. Stay for the creativity. Leave with a little piece of Inverloch that you made yourself.