To create something truly original when there are so many artists in the world is a real hat trick. Rosebud multidisciplinary artist, Alicia Bourley has done just that with her unexpected compositions. More remarkably, she’s only been making art professionally for a year.
“I was the kid always inside, drawing or painting. The only thing that could get me outside was sunshine and water. I had my first exhibition at 18 called Wrong Way Go Back. Even then, I was trying to express through my art what I couldn’t say out loud,” she says.
Alicia comes from a family of creatives. Her father was a fashion designer for Myer. Her mother made crafts for gift shops. Her sister founded iconic giftware brand Koh Living and her brother is a gifted photographer. Creativity and drive run through her veins.
She began studying art straight after Year 12 with an immersive and intensive year in the Brighton Bay Art, Design and Photography program. The course covered drawing, printmaking, graphic design, photography, pottery and art theory. She loved it all, but it was one of the most challenging years of her life.
While art was always bubbling away inside her, it was not the career she pursued. Even with the success of her first exhibition, she felt she would be heading into a career she really wasn’t sure about. So, she went to RMIT to study advertising, completing a degree in Creative Advertising and, simultaneously, a diploma in Marketing.
Alicia enjoyed an exciting, award-winning career in advertising and marketing. She thrived on the pressure, but as she got older, her focus changed. She no longer felt she needed to prove herself and wanted to step away from that crackerjack pace. Art was waiting for her.
Her background in advertising has heavily influenced her unique approach to creating. Alicia begins her work with a mood board. “It’s is a curated collection of visuals used to define the look, feel and direction of a project before I start creating. Usually I already know what I want in my head, but a mood board helps bring it into clear focus,” she says.
She then starts drawing on paper before deciding where to go next. She might paint with oils or acrylics on canvas, choose mixed media digital art or use a combination of traditional and digital mediums to make large scale, limited edition, pieces. She is more interested in getting the idea across than the medium used to produce the work.
Alicia draws on her interests in travel, technology, nature, reading and psychology. She is very interested in what makes people tick so she’s fascinated to see which of her artworks that viewers connect with and why. “I try to express my feelings and opinions through my art and the emotion behind that tends to resonate with the right people,” she says.
The medium doesn’t matter to me if I’m conveying the emotion
While many creatives are gravitating away from technology and AI, Alicia leans in to it. “I get excited about what the future holds as technology continues to evolve. I am most comfortable behind a computer because that’s where my training lies. I love technology. The more it evolves the more excited I get to see how far creatives can push their ideas. I view technology and AI as extra tools in my artist’s toolbox. The medium doesn’t matter to me if I’m conveying the emotion,” she says.
“I’d say I don’t really have a defined style; I just do what I feel like doing. Then I look back at my work and there’s a clear thread: femininity, water, nature, and transience of beauty.
I’m at an age now where I’m not trying to please or impress anyone else. This is simply something I love,” she says. She’s not the only one. Her work is proving to be very popular.
Alicia spends as much time as she can in France, a country just oozing with artistic inspiration. Her husband is French. His family are in Étables-sur-Mer on the Brittany Coast and Toulouse on the River Garonne. Alicia has family in Nice. “I think travel gives me a different perspective on the world. It’s really opened me up to new experiences, people and insights. All of those experiences are represented in my work,” she says.
Living on the Mornington Peninsula has also had a huge impact on her art practice. She loves that there are so many other creatives across the whole spectrum of the arts on the peninsula. She loves the beautiful scenery but, most importantly, she’s drawn to the water.
While Alicia is connected to all of her work, she’s currently loving her Noise series. It’s an exploration of visual and emotional overload. It’s a resistance to chaos, a pull to disconnect, to reclaim stillness – a craving for silence in a world that feels too loud right now.
“I’ve found an unexpected joy in the way my work resonates with people,” she says. Have a look at her distinctive art in Artisan’s Alley on Main Street in Mornington or on her website. It may just resonate with you too.
Peninsula Essence June 2026