Five Places in Tasmania That Keep Inspiring Me

People often ask where my ideas come from, where I find all the colours, textures, and moods in my paintings. The truth is, I don’t have to look far. Tasmania is full of landscapes that continually surprise me. The light changes every hour, the sky can go from soft grey to glowing peach, and the air always seems to hold a story.

These are five places that keep calling me back, places that shape my paintings, my palette, and the way I see the world.

1. Bruny Island - wild beauty and stillness

Every time I visit Bruny, I feel like time slows down. There’s something grounding about taking that short ferry ride, leaving behind the hum of everyday life and stepping into a quieter rhythm.

Bruny has this incredible mix of rugged cliffs, calm inlets, and sweeping beaches, all in one small island. The colours are often muted but luminous: silvery greens in the grasses, cool blues in the water, soft creams in the sand. When I paint Bruny, I try to capture that sense of space, the airiness and calm that settles over you when you stand on one of its headlands and breathe in the salt.

It’s not a loud landscape; it’s a whispering one.

2. The East Coast - Bicheno and Bay of Fires

The East Coast is my colour heaven. The water here can shift from turquoise to deep indigo in a single afternoon, and those bright orange lichen-covered rocks are like nature’s way of saying, “Don’t forget to be bold.”

Whenever I’m feeling stuck in the studio, I think of that coastline. The contrasts, the cool blues against the fiery oranges, remind me to push my palette and take risks. There’s a rhythm to the East Coast that’s all about movement: the rolling waves, the sway of coastal grasses, the endless horizon.

I often use the palette knife to recreate that energy, layering thick paint to mimic the way the sea pushes and pulls against the rocks. It’s never static, and that’s what I love.

3. Mount Wellington - the mountain moods

From my part of the world, the mountain is always there, sometimes clear, sometimes hidden behind clouds, always shifting. Mount Wellington (or Kunanyi) has a presence that’s hard to describe. It’s both dramatic and comforting.

The forested lower slopes around Fern Tree are lush and damp, full of moss, mist, and the quiet sound of dripping leaves. When I paint this area, I think less about detail and more about atmosphere, those soft, layered tones of green and grey, the cool light that filters through the trees.

It’s a place that makes me slow down and look closer. Every shade of green here feels alive.

4. The foothills around home in Fern Tree

I don’t have to go far for inspiration; sometimes it’s right outside my front door. The foothills where I live have this beautiful mix of open paddocks, distant ridgelines, and soft light that changes constantly.

These everyday landscapes remind me that inspiration doesn’t have to be grand. The small things, a shadow on a hill, the pattern of dry grass, a sudden flash of sunlight, can be just as powerful.

I often walk here in the late afternoon when the colours start to deepen. Those walks often end up in my paintings, even if just as a memory of light or movement. The foothills are my reminder to stay connected to where I am.

5. Cradle Mountain and the wild heart of Tasmania

If Tasmania has a heartbeat, it might be Cradle Mountain. The first time I walked there, I was struck by the sheer scale and texture of it, rugged peaks, mirror-like lakes, and the kind of stillness that feels ancient.

Cradle Mountain has this dramatic palette: cool greys, deep greens, and the kind of blues that only appear in certain light. When I paint it, I’m not trying to capture the exact view. I’m chasing that feeling of awe, the sense of standing somewhere so vast it quiets your thoughts.

The surrounding walks are equally inspiring. The changing vegetation, the weather rolling in, the way light hits the tarns, it’s a reminder that the landscape is always alive, always moving.

Any beach, any day

And then there are the beaches, all of them. Tasmania’s coastline is endlessly inspiring. Each beach feels slightly different, but they all share that clean, untamed energy.

I’m especially drawn to the coastal grasses, how they bend in the wind, how their colours shift from soft yellow ochre to silvery green. They have a rhythm that mirrors brushstrokes. When I’m painting, I often find myself tracing that same flow across the canvas.

There’s something healing about the ocean here. Its constant motion, its mix of power and calm, it’s the essence of what I try to capture in my seascapes.

Why these places matter

Each of these landscapes holds a piece of what inspires me to paint. They remind me that nature isn’t static, it’s layered, textured, alive. My job is to translate that feeling, to create something that carries the same sense of air, movement, and emotion onto the canvas.

Tasmania gives me endless material to work with, not just visually, but emotionally. Every painting I make begins with one of these places, even if only as a memory or a mood.

Thanks for travelling with me

If you’ve enjoyed this little tour of the places that inspire my work, I’d love to share more from my studio:

• Join my mailing list for updates on new paintings and exhibitions.

• Follow along on Instagram @hannahblackmoreartist for behind-the-scenes photos, palette shots, and glimpses of these landscapes in paint form.

Tasmania gives endlessly, and I feel lucky to spend my days trying to paint a small piece of its magic.