Mornington Peninsula based artist Claire (By Claire Monique) creates joy through her art and empowers others by sharing her story. She is obsessed with all things bright and sparkly and is on a mission to fill the world with as many good vibes as possible in the form of paintings, drawings, murals, wearable art and whatever else tickles her fancy! She enjoys working across a wide range of mediums including Procreate, acrylic paint, watercolour, ink and a variety of textiles and shiny little doodads. Her inspirations include Keith Haring, RuPaul’s Drag Race and her home by the beach.

Claire studied both Art and Studio Art in secondary school with a focus on textiles and painting before commencing a Bachelor of Contemporary Art in 2002. She deferred this degree to pursue her interests in fashion and Music Theatre, but returned to her artistic practice after surviving major surgery for an Acoustic Neuroma in November 2019. Using art as her rehab she started by churning out over 400 pom-poms while stuck in bed and hasn't looked back since!

Claire launched her debut collection "Neu", (featuring 147 pieces) in November 2020, donating 20% of proceeds to St Vincent’s Hospital’s Neurosurgery Department. Her small-scale work is currently stocked at Incube8r Fitzroy and she has over 40 designs available on everything from shower curtains to canvases at RedBubble.com.

Since recommencing her artistic practice in early 2020 Claire has had the pleasure of winning the Mornington Peninsula Arts & Culture BINspiration competition, painting and drawing many commissioned pieces, chatting with Kristie Evans on the Connecting Good People podcast, sharing her story at Happy Places & Co’s first post-lockdown luncheon, being interviewed by Andrea Rowe for her Coronatude series and joining the MAVA Committee as their Social Coordinator.