CLARE DETCHON: I'll go down to the beach and I'll gather the colours. Sometimes I'll have an idea of what colours I want and sometimes I won't. I love the reds, they're my favourites.

GENEVIEVE HUSSEY: For 30 year old Clare Detchon Darwin's beaches are more than just a beautiful place for an evening stroll. They're also a colourful artist’s pallette.

CLARE DETCHON: The textures you get and the colours you get they’re fantastic and they're really reflective of the colours you find around Darwin.

GENEVIEVE HUSSEY: Clare Detchon first became interested in incorporating the natural environment in her paintings six years ago when she realised she could create her own paint using ground seeds and bark to provide the colour. Now she’s moved on to the rocks from Darwin's beaches.

CLARE DETCHON: When I came up here I went down to east point and just was so inspired by all of the colours down there, so I took some home and ground them up and had a play and it started from there. I'll just use a brick because I find that's the best thing, and I just bash on another brick, crush the rocks into a powder and then mix with water and a glue. And get differing strengths of a colour.

GENEVIEVE HUSSEY: For the past six months she's been the Artist in Residence at Territory Craft in Darwin, working on a series of large charcoal self portraits. The paintings have been inspired by the Territory's changing seasons and the bird and animal life she's encountered.

CLARE DETCHON: It’s like a reflection of my internal world. They’re my experience of the Territory, like there’s the Curlew paintings. I often work late at night and I'd be here painting myself and singing my song and the curlew would be outside the studio at night time looking at himself, his reflection in the mirror. And he'd be singing his song all night too.

GENEVIEVE HUSSEY: Clare Detchon believes people are drawn to her work because of the direct connection between her art and the land.

CLARE DETCHON: It’s sort of highlighting how incredible the world around us is. And I think people relate to that, they find it fascinating that we can use these things that are around us to create amazing work. The rocks are just so beautiful that they are touched by that. Also the big works because they are larger than life, and I think that people get taken by that as well. You can look at a painting and you can see an image, but as you look closer you'll see layers and layers and other images within that image. I find that really inspiring.

GENEVIEVE HUSSEY: But there's another very different side to this artist's work, small acrylics that are a reminder of her experiences in the Territory over the past year.

CLARE DETCHON: They’re like a postcard of Darwin and the of the Territory, a little snapshot. And I find that fascinating, as people do go and get inspired when they travel to places, and they often buy a postcard or something to take home to remind them and they're like little reminders of how beautiful this place is.

GENEVIEVE HUSSEY: Clare Detchon is completing her six month residency program with an exhibition of work at Territory Craft.

KATRINA TYLER: The thing I like most about Clare’s work is that you get a real sense of who she is through both her paintings and her landscapes. And I just love how she enlarges her own self and uses materials that are close to her own heart and show her connection to the earth.

GENEVIEVE HUSSEY: But while this painter's time in the Territory may be coming to an end, Clare Detchon says the rocks she's found on Darwin's beaches will continue to influence her work.

CLARE DETCHON: It’s been an amazing opportunity. It’s been such a learning curve. And it’s really exciting that I can reflect on the last six months and see how it’s all come together. And I'm not finished with the rocks, I'm going to keep working with them and keep pushing that material, and see where it can go.