I’m delighted to introduce my newest Petals venture within By Narjia Brownlie, the Petals Collaboration Projects. In these projects I will join forces with a muse and woman of note, to paint an original artwork based on their unique personal style and feminine spirit. The original artwork valued at 8,100 AUD will be offered as the main prize in a ticketed competition, with all ticket proceeds being donated to a women’s organisation selected by my collaborator.

I launched Petals earlier this year, a charitable initiative which aims to reach out and assist women in need around Australia. Petals donates a portion of the profits from every online artwork sale made on bynarjiabrownie.com to an elected female-focussed charity each quarter. Ultimately, this is a special opportunity between artist and collector to facilitate a small yet mighty dose of social change and financial assistance for women who are in need of it most. 

While the project began softly, I had plans for it to bloom with special collaborative opportunities. For my debut Petals Collaboration, I knew exactly who I wanted to work alongside first– my longtime collector, beauty and style muse and Sydney-based creator, Ali Whittle. 

My first interaction with Ali was in late 2020, when she had a large, glowing following and I was still painting in the corner of my childhood bedroom with about 500 followers on Instagram. Ali fell in love with ‘softer in lilac’, one of my early prints from Series One, and shared a picture of it to her large following. When the piece was released a few days later she ordered her print within the hour of release and ‘softer in lilac’ has featured in her Sydney home ever since.

I remember having the idea for the Petals Collaboration Projects in November 2021, a few months before I had even launched Petals. It was late in the afternoon, I was nearing the end of my first year of being a full-time artist and I was chatting to Ali on Instagram. It was only twelve months previous that Ali and I had connected over her collection of ‘softer in lilac’. We were speaking about creativity and burnout and how we managed different aspects of our work. Despite having a successful career in publishing, Ali made the decision to pursue content creation full-time in 2020 and has been developing her unique offering of beauty, fashion, style and thought ever since. While in different industries and having never met, we were able to support one another that afternoon and I remember it being really meaningful to me. It’s incredible to see that two years later we’re able to come together and extend our support to women in need, no matter if we never meet and no matter if we aren’t in the same situation at the time.

Ali is so incredibly talented in many ways and her nature is wonderfully unique. For someone so rich in experience and ability, Ali is grounded and warm. It was a joy to reflect on her unique spirit of femininity and to emanate it through a painting. We believe this collaboration project will highlight how creatives can collaborate to create meaningful impact while celebrating and supporting women. 

We can’t to share more about the project and see the impact it can generate. 

Competition Details:

Tickets in the Petals x Ali Whittle original artwork will be available to purchase when the competition launches on December 8th, 2023. There will also be incredible runner up prizes, to be announced shortly. The competition will close on January 8th, 2023 following which the winners and donation amount will be announced.