03/09/2026
I’ve been looking through the proof of my next picture book, Little Luna May – The Colours That Were Already There, and this page brought me straight back to the moment that inspired it.
After Cyclone Fina and days of rain in Darwin, my daughter and I went exploring across the road from our home in Woolner. Familiar places suddenly looked completely different.
After Cyclone Fina and days of rain in Darwin, my daughter and I went exploring across the road from our home in Woolner. Familiar places suddenly looked completely different.
This illustration comes from a fallen tree we stopped to notice. I remember thinking how alive it still looked — branches reaching, leaves holding on, colours shifting after the rain. Even fallen, it had not stopped being part of the landscape.
That walk became a way of looking more closely. We noticed wet earth, bark, leaves, petals, pods, stones and burnt sticks. Some colours deepened with water. Mud and charcoal left marks. Things we had passed many times before became materials for touching, gathering, mixing and making.
That is where The Colours That Were Already There began.
It is a story drawn from the world my daughter and I share — exploring nature close to home, noticing what changes, and discovering how much can be found in ordinary places when we slow down enough to look.
I’m also feeling very grateful today. Thank you to everyone who has bought one of my books or artist-designed T-shirts, joined one of my workshops, shared one of your own stories with me, or simply encouraged Maria Grujicic Studio along the way. Every one of those connections helps this work continue.
I’ll be at The Bookshop Darwin this Saturday from 10.30am for a book signing, and I’d love to see you there. 🌿
