The Little Things Design

Lisa Kearney is a keen observer of the things around her. With colours playing such an important role in her pieces it’s only natural for her to always be on the lookout for new and interesting combinations, even taking colour inspiration from dresses and photographs.
As innocently and unpredictable as her inspirations are, her start into The Little Things Design started much the same. “The painting was just something I started as soon as I got back from America, I was just working at Bean Squeeze not working a whole heap so I had a lot of spare time. And at school I’d always sort of done more abstract stuff with my art,” she says.
“Even blending backgrounds in other artworks they tended to turn out like that and then I often didn’t want to do anything else, but I knew that that maybe wouldn’t be enough for an art project at school, so I started doing abstract at home just for fun.”
The hobby has since turned into a side career and passion, as once Lisa started posting her artworks on Instagram the attention and demand for her work grew.

She has since stocked her pieces at Ballyhoo Art (90 Ryrie St, Geelong), Ampersand (1/138 Pakington St, Geelong West) as well as a pop up shop at King of the Castle cafe which she will return to later next month after a successful first stint.
“King of the Castle just has such a good vibe down there, because there’s a lot of people that are my age and even younger and older, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a good place especially on a Saturday, everyone is just really chilled,” Lisa says.
While Lisa started with making paintings, which are painted with acrylics and finished with resin, she also makes potplant pouches and prints – made easier with her skills as a graphic designer. She hopes to one day expand her homewares collection and create bedding and cushion covers.
“I am always thinking of what else I can do but at the same time I don’t want to get too far from the painting and just end up with all this other stuff. Because at the end of the day the paintings are the foundation of it all so I don’t want to stray too far from that,” she says.
Seeing the happy customer snaps of where they’ve placed their paintings is a favourite thing for Lisa in the whole artist experience, and is proof that her paintings really are at the heart of what she does.
If you’d like to purchase some of her pieces you can see her work in the flesh at King of the Castle on May 23, follow her on Instagram or visit her website.
Written by Amanda Sherring