Mystery Plants & Trees Workshop at the Starlight Express Room, Darwin
Some workshops stay with you because of the artwork. Others stay with you because of the quiet little moments around the table, when someone notices a line in a leaf, tells a story about a tree, or decides that a twig looks like the beginning of something magical.
On 1 October 2026, I had the pleasure of delivering my Mystery Plants & Trees creative workshop at the Starlight Express Room in Darwin. I came as a Darwin artist, author and educator, but I also came with something very personal: my connection to the Ludmilla bushblock and the picture book it inspired, Mystery Plants & Trees: Adventures in the Ludmilla Bushblock.
This workshop wasn’t about everyone making the same artwork. It was about slowing down, looking closely, listening to nature, and giving each child and participant space to create something that felt like their own.
I’m very grateful to the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Starlight Captains for welcoming me so warmly. The photographs used for this post were approved and supplied by Starlight, and I share this reflection with appreciation for the care and joy they bring to the children and families they support.
Beginning with the Ludmilla bushblock
I began the workshop by sharing a personal story about my own visits to the Ludmilla bushblock.
The Ludmilla bushblock has been an important place in my creative life. It’s where I’ve walked, looked, listened and wondered. It’s the kind of place where a tree doesn’t feel like background scenery. It feels like a character. A seed pod, a patch of bark, a twist in a branch, or a strange leaf can all become the beginning of a story.
That sense of wonder became the heart of my picture book, Mystery Plants & Trees: Adventures in the Ludmilla Bushblock. For the workshop, I showed the first illustration from the book as a creative prompt. I didn’t use it as something to copy. I used it as a doorway into conversation.
Participants looked closely at the illustration, noticed different shapes and details, and shared their own responses. Some saw shapes. Some thought about plants and trees they knew. Some connected the image to memory or imagination.
It became a brief but meaningful discussion, and that mattered. Before anyone picked up a pencil, we had already begun the creative process through looking, speaking, listening and wondering together.
That’s something I love about artist-led workshops. The art doesn’t begin only when the materials come out. It begins when attention shifts.
Sharing the Maria Grujicic Studio Method in the Mystery Plants & Trees Workshop
After the story and discussion, I introduced my 3 Steps to the Artist in You, The Maria Grujicic Studio Method.
This method is simple, but it carries a lot of care. It supports participants to:
Observe
Explore
Develop their own creative response
The reason I work this way is because I don’t want participants to feel they must copy a set example to be “successful”. In many art settings, children can feel pressure to make something look a certain way. The flower must look like the teacher’s flower. The tree must look like the sample on the table. The colours must match.
But real creative confidence grows when people learn to trust what they notice.
So instead of saying, “Here is what we’re all making,” I offered a process. I invited the children and Starlight Captains to look closely at natural materials and make choices. They could notice a smooth line, a rough texture, a pointed edge, a curl of bark, or the shape of a leaf. Then they could choose what interested them and develop that into a drawing or painting.
This approach gave each participant a starting point, but not a strict pathway. It supported independence while still offering structure. That balance is especially important in children’s art workshops, where children need both freedom and a gentle framework.
The materials invited careful looking
For this nature-based art workshop, I brought a mix of familiar art materials and natural objects.
On the table we had:
Montessori metal insets
Watercolour pencils
Small brushes
Lids with small amounts of water
Leaves
Bark
Twigs
Other natural materials gathered for observation
The Montessori metal insets offered clear shapes and a calm way into drawing. In Montessori learning environments, metal insets are often used to help children develop control, shape awareness and hand movement. In this workshop, they also became a creative tool. Participants could use them to trace, frame, layer or build a starting point for their own image.
The watercolour pencils gave everyone choice. They could draw with them dry, then add water with a small brush to soften or spread the colour. The lids with small amounts of water worked well because they kept the process simple and manageable. There was enough water for painting, but not so much that it took over the table.
The natural materials were the real focus.
A leaf isn’t just a leaf when you slow down and look at it. It has veins, edges, spots, marks, symmetry, gaps, scars and surprises. Bark can look like a road map. A twig can become a creature, a branch, a pathway, or a symbol. These small objects gave participants something concrete to hold and observe, while still leaving room for imagination.
I loved watching the children and Starlight Captains choose their own materials. That choice was part of the artwork. The moment someone selected a leaf or twig, they were already saying, “This is what I’m interested in.”
Singing the Mystery Trees song
At one point in the workshop, I sang the Mystery Trees song.
Singing changed the energy in the room in a gentle way. It helped bring attention back to nature and to the idea at the centre of the workshop: trees, like people, are individual and special.
That idea is simple enough for a child to understand, but it’s also deep. No two trees are exactly the same. Even trees growing close together have different bends, marks, branches, patterns and histories. Some stretch upward. Some lean. Some have rough bark. Some have smooth bark. Some hold tiny details you only see when you pause.
People are like that too.
The song helped us focus on difference as something to notice and value. It also supported the storytelling side of the workshop. We weren’t only drawing plant parts. We were thinking about identity, imagination and the quiet stories nature can hold.
Music can be a helpful part of creative workshops because it can gather attention without needing too many words. In this setting, it created a soft bridge between observation and art-making.
Each artwork became its own story
Once the participants had chosen natural materials, they began observing lines, shapes and textures.
Some looked carefully at the edge of a leaf. Some followed the grain of bark. Some used the metal insets to begin with a shape, then added details from nature. Some worked with pencil marks first, then touched water to the colour and watched it shift. Others made bolder choices straight away.
What stood out to me was that every artwork was different.
That’s one of the clearest signs of process-led art-making. When the focus is on observation, creativity and personal response, the finished works don’t all line up like copies of one sample. They carry the decisions of the person who made them.
Participants also had their own stories and interpretations to share. A shape could become a tree. A texture could suggest an animal. A line might remind someone of a path, a branch, or something imagined. These stories weren’t add-ons after the art. They were part of the making.
As an author and illustrator, I’m always aware of the connection between images and stories. Children often move naturally between the two. They draw, then talk. They talk, then draw. They notice something, then turn it into a character or place. A workshop like this gives that movement room to happen.
That’s why Mystery Plants & Trees works so well as a workshop starting point. The book comes from real observation of a local Darwin place, but it also opens into imagination. It invites children to see plants and trees not as ordinary background, but as living forms full of mystery.
Flexibility mattered in the room
One of the most important parts of the workshop was flexibility.
Participants could join and leave according to their needs. That meant the workshop had to be open enough for someone to enter partway through, but clear enough that they could still understand what to do. It also had to allow for different energy levels, attention spans and ways of participating.
I planned the session with this in mind.
The materials were accessible. The steps were simple. The invitation was clear: choose something from nature, look closely, and create your own response.
There was no pressure to finish in a certain way. There was no single correct outcome. A participant could make a small drawing, a layered painting, a quick study, or a more detailed artwork. They could spend time observing before drawing, or begin straight away and discover through making.
This kind of flexibility doesn’t mean the workshop has no structure. It means the structure supports people rather than controls them.
For me, that’s central to the way Maria Grujicic Studio approaches Darwin art workshops. A good creative workshop should have a strong idea, thoughtful materials and a clear process, but it should also leave space for the people in the room.
What I took away from the workshop
I left the Starlight Express Room feeling thankful and thoughtful.
The workshop reminded me that art-making can be gentle and powerful at the same time. A small leaf on a table can lead to close observation. A brush and a little water can turn a pencil line into something unexpected. A picture book illustration can open up conversation. A song can help a group return to focus.
Most of all, I was reminded that children don’t need us to give them all the answers in art. They need invitations. They need materials that are thoughtfully chosen. They need adults who value their choices, their marks and their stories.
As an artist, author and educator, I see my role as guiding the process without taking over the outcome. I can bring the book, the method, the materials and the song. I can introduce ways of looking. I can encourage careful observation. But the artwork belongs to the maker.
That’s where the joy is.
Thank you to Starlight
A heartfelt thank you to the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Starlight Captains for welcoming me into the Starlight Express Room in Darwin.
Thank you for joining in, helping the workshop flow, supporting the children, and making the space feel warm and open. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share Mystery Plants & Trees in such a meaningful setting.
Thank you also to Starlight for supplying and approving the photographs used for this post.
Creative workshops with Maria Grujicic Studio
Maria Grujicic Studio offers artist-led workshops for schools, early-learning centres, community organisations and private groups across Darwin, with creative learning experiences grounded in observation, storytelling and individual expression.
My workshops often draw from my work as a Darwin artist, author and educator, including picture books such as Mystery Plants & Trees. They can be shaped for different ages, settings and group needs, with a focus on process-led art-making rather than copying a fixed example.
If you’re interested in booking a workshop for your school, early-learning centre, community organisation or private group in Darwin, you can learn more here: artist-led creative workshops with Maria Grujicic Studio.
The Starlight workshop reminded me why I keep returning to nature-based art. When we slow down and really look, even the smallest leaf can become the beginning of a story.
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