Tarnia: the artist
I am an animal advocate & devoted mum to my three horses and two dogs. I grew up surrounded by pets of every shape and size - horses, dogs, cats, fish, rats, hermit crabs, silkworms, rescued pets and wildlife . . . This naturally fuelled my unconditional love of the animal kingdom.
Combining this with my passion for the arts, I love to create soulful, realistic animal portraits. So distinctly full of empathy - timeless, & emotionally powerful tributes to our under-appreciated Mother Nature.
I am (exhaustingly) empathic in nature, and tend to absorb the hearts & emotions of everything and everyone around me, no matter how heavy. But, this lets me capture the personality & essence of my subject within my art, bringing my artwork to life.


My aim with every piece is to make this personality shine, and be revered by every viewer & collector it interacts with throughout its life.
Each artwork I do is inspired by something. Already committed to some not-for-profit organisations, my mission is to use my artistic license to bring awareness & funding to philanthropic missions:
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"Mourning", a heartfelt koala portrait donates 20% of proceeds to Koala Rescue Queensland Inc (a Sunshine Coast, QLD local team of two brothers rehabilitating and rehoming injured koalas).
If you can recommend a not-for-profit, organisation capable of great things, or organisation just doing their darn'd'est for a great cause, please reach out and share this with me!
I am a university graduate with a Bachelor in Biomedical Science (majoring in Chemistry & Biotechnology) and a qualified dental nurse with nine years of clinical experience. I lead a pretty busy life pursuing my passions freelancing as an artist, alongside the full-time work now as a technical field analyst in environmental & urban waterways management.