In Alicia Cornwell's elegant still lifes, you might catch glimpses of the antiques she used to sell.
“I’ve often asked myself, why didn’t I start my art career earlier? The thing is, I actually had…”
Featured Artist Alicia Cornwell spent years running her own antiques business before moving into painting full time. Those years spent honing her keen aesthetic eye and sound business sense turned out to be vital training that eventually allowed her to make the switch to painting full time.
Based in a 100-year-old home and studio high in the Dandenong Ranges of Melbourne, Australia, Alicia creates still life paintings that merge natural forms with the vintage design elements she once curated.
Her canvases shift between bold color and soft pastels, layered glazes and sharp lines, always with an eye for detail.
Surrounded by century-old gardens and a stunning, verdant landscape, Alicia draws from the constant seasonal changes around her, transforming them into works that feel both rooted in history and alive with new energy.
Read on as we dive deeper into Alicia Cornwell’s practice—how she translated the antique world onto canvas, the advice she has for artists today, and the tool she relies on to hold it all together.
Alicia Cornwell, Banksia Sweep - Diptych, Oil On Canvas, 60 x 90.5 x 4 cm
Finding Artistic Inspiration All Around You
Alicia lives in a beautiful place: her home is on top of an ancient, extinct volcano in Australia’s Victoria state. The eons of geological activity and the fertile volcanic soil have made the landscape uniquely suited to the region's colorful flora.
“The soil has the texture and richness of chocolate cake,” Alicia tells with Artwork Archive, “so there is a large number of flower growers in the area that supply florists Australia-wide.”
Alicia makes full use of this bounty, frequenting the many roadside stalls and wholesalers to research and collect the unique flowers that populate her work. “It’s really not hard to find subject matter for my still lifes!” she says with gratitude.
But even with the best of materials, it still takes a magpie’s eye to create a pleasing arrangement, or to spark an unexpected thought through the combination of a native flower with a vintage vase.
These are skills that Alicia developed over the years she spent running her own antiques store: sourcing unique objects, bringing them together in interesting combinations, and somehow making the sum feel more meaningful—and enchanting—than the parts.
“Every day I honed my skills at composition, color and balance with found objects to present for sale,” she recalls of her antique-dealing days. “This ultimately transferred perfectly into my still life genre of today.”
In Alicia's studio, the gems from a former career as an antiques dealer sit side-by-side with art materials.
How Alicia Cornwell Creates a Painting
For Alicia, a painting usually begins with a walk outside. She sources flowers and plants from her 100-year-old garden and the surrounding area. From there, she comes up with a concept that can work well with the plants she’s collected, and gathers vintage objects from around her house.
“At the moment I am exploring the sculptural qualities of native banksia”—an Australian plant with unique, barrel-shaped flowers—"in antique, thick glass jars," she explains. She's particularly drawn to the contrast between plants that have grown in her area for millenia and more recently introduced European objects.
From that arrangement, a composition starts to emerge: “I draw onto the canvas that has been primed in tinted gesso with white chalk free hand,” she shares. Then the paints come out: “I work in oils wet on wet with some glazing of areas towards the end.”
When things start to sing, she fiddles with white highlights, or tightens certain areas of the composition. She admits that this is her favorite part of painting: “I love when it comes together and you just sort of know when it's done.”
Alicia Cornwell, Tally Ho when the Kookaburra sings, Oil On Canvas, 76 x 102 x 3.5 cm
How to Make the Switch to Being a Full-Time Artist
The art career that Alicia has today actually came about through a blessing in disguise. One day, she got word that the storefront out of which she ran her antiques business was being sold.
As she planned her next steps, she realized that the antiques industry just didn’t hold her interest the way it once did.
She had been an art student when she was younger, and thought that picking up the brushes full time could be a rewarding path forward.
But rather than start from scratch, she leveraged the relationships and audiences that she had already built up from her years as an antiques dealer to set herself on the right path forward in her new career.
“I had a strong online presence from my vintage business,” she recalls, “many customers followed me across—which was a nice surprise.”
Alicia Cornwell, Antipode - Tally HO, oil on canvas, 61 x 50.9 x 3.5 cm, and Antipode - Gone Away, oil on canvas, 61 x 50.9 x 3.5 cm
Finding the Right Tools For Your Art Business
As she began painting more—and had more pieces to keep track of—she came to a realization that chimed with her years as a small business owner: “Admin is an essential part of the business.”
Like any artist aiming for long-term career sustainability, she wanted a simple way to keep track of her pieces and record important information like dimensions, medium, creation date, and exhibition history.
“I wanted to keep a catalogue of my work and the thought of writing and maintaining a spreadsheet of my own had me shaking in my boots like I used to at school days maths class,” she cringes.
She found Artwork Archive just by searching the internet for a reliable inventory system for artists. As she poked around the platform, however, she found that it could do so much more than just inventory her pieces.
“Artwork Archive had me at 'Free Trial,' and now I can’t do without it!” she raves.
Flowers pop up in unexpected places in Alicia's studio.
How Private Rooms Transformed Alicia’s Art Practice
"I have MANY favourite features in Artwork Archive,” Alicia says today. But the one that has become indispensible for her practice is Private Rooms.
“It’s a great feature for putting together a body of work so you can see how everything looks together,” she explains.
She can use Private Rooms to upload her reference photos and get a sense of how the concepts behind the pieces are working together. Then, when she finishes an artwork, she replaces those photos with an image of the completed painting.
According to Alicia, that flexibility of being able to upload multiple photos for a single artwork “creates a continuity for me and a great reference point, as well as keeping my images together in one place.”
Plus, when all the pieces are ready for sharing, she can simply copy the link to the private room—complete with high-quality image files ready for download—and share it with interested curators and galleries.
“I use this function quite a bit,” she reveals, “most recently for the Affordable Art Fair Melbourne where I am working with Martine Gallery.”
Now that she’s a full-time artist, she also uses the Exhibitions feature to keep track of upcoming shows and art prizes she wants to apply to.
“You need to plan your year out” as a professional artist, Alicia urges, “and this feature helps you to do that. It also sends out weekly reminders to your email so you don’t forget!”
Private Rooms Are Like a Cheat Code For Artists
Did you know that you can create a specially curated selection of your best work with just a few clicks? Learn how to make your first Private Room and send it to buyers, curators, galleries, and anyone else who asks for more information about your work.
Alicia’s Advice: When It Comes to Artist Organization, Just Start Today
Even if you think don’t need an art inventory platform, or you’re not ready to start inventorying your work, Alicia wants you to learn from her experience: “Get organised from day one! I cant stress this enough.”
This is as much for your collaborators as it is for you. “If you don’t get your ducks in a row early on," she advises, "you are going to let down both yourself and the people you are working with.”
A curator who’s excited to work with you needs to know what artwork you have available, which galleries you’ve worked with, what your past sales look like, and other details that are best tracked steadily as your practice grows. Don’t wait until they reach out to start gathering this information. You’ll only end up stressed and overwhelmed.
“Be wild with your artwork if thats how you roll, but as an artist there are certain expectations from galleries and those you work with that must be maintained,” she urges. “For me, Artwork Archive has been absolutely essential in making that happen.”
Since she was already had good business habits from running her vintage store, Alicia had a head start. But even with that background, she had a backlog of pieces that weren’t in Artwork Archive. She kept it manageable, adding pieces regularly, until she got up to date.
“Now I am very proud to say I have catalogued ALL my artworks,” she beams, “from the very first day of becoming a full-time artist.”
Staying organized has been Alicia's secret weapon, helping her make the transition from business owner to full time artist.
No matter where you are in your art journey, getting your business side in order doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. A bit of structure now can mean more time and headspace for the work you actually want to be doing.
Artwork Archive helps artists build an online portfolio, stay on top of their inventory, and create things like tear sheets and invoices in just a few clicks. Start a free trial and see how it fits into your own process.
