In conversation with artist and architect Megan Cochran. From painting our ivory doves, to her art collections, architecture and the creation of Jour, we wander through Megan’s thoughts on nature, imagination and the beautiful possibilities that unfold when we make space to create.
You’re both an architect and an artist. Where did your creative story begin?
Definitely as a child. I was always drawing and creating. My mum owned a graphic design business and worked from home, and I spent much of my early days drawing under her desk. Creativity was always encouraged and celebrated in our home, which gave me a really beautiful foundation and the freedom to grow up loving all things creative.
How has your architectural background influenced the way you draw — particularly your sense of form, proportion, detail and composition?
Architecture has taught me to see and understand the world in a whole new way. Over the years you learn to perceive space and place in a way that can be translated into a plan or construction detail - essentially, into documentation. Once you learn to see like this, your capacity for observation grows too, and I think that has fuelled my creative practice.
The same ideas of composition, harmony, contrast, experience, abstraction and colour are present in both art and architecture. They just speak through different languages.
Architecture can be incredibly precise, while drawing can feel much more instinctive. Do you enjoy moving between those two creative worlds?
I actually pursued architecture after school because my sister had started the course and really disliked it! She told me that all they did in first year was draw, and I thought that sounded amazing, so I signed up.
Of course, there is much more technicality to architecture than that, and it eventually led me to pursue art more seriously because I needed an outlet where I could go outside the lines and be free from the constraints of the practical. I thought I wanted to only do art, and some days I still do, but there is also a lovely balance in architecture. The constraints create problems to solve and unexpected creative solutions.
I find the contrast between the two makes me desire each equally. After days of creative problem-solving in a painting, I crave the boundaries of architecture. After days of architecture, I crave the freedom of painting.
Art & inspiration
Where do you find yourself looking for inspiration — nature, architecture, travel, books, everyday observations or somewhere else entirely?
I find inspiration in so many places and all of the above. I try to stay open to that still, small voice that prompts my curiosity and leads me towards the next thing I can’t wait to explore through art.
Sometimes it’s nature, a landscape or a colour combination I notice. There’s a second-hand bookshop in Kingscliff that I love visiting purely for the unexpected inspiration I find in old gardening, travel and architecture books.
My faith has also become a significant source of inspiration. I’ve loved discovering the depth of 2,000 years of Catholic art, architecture and stories of the saints. That really came alive for me when I visited Rome earlier this year, and I feel like I came home with a whole plethora of colours, subjects and ideas I want to explore through my work.
What does your creative process look like when you begin a new painting?
I liken my process to the architectural process quite a lot. I love to set myself a brief and an intention, and then consider how that intention can translate through the tools I have; colour, composition and materiality.
I’ll often make sketches to map things out, but then I hold them quite loosely when I come to the canvas. Having an intention is really helpful when I get stuck because I can return to it and filter decisions through that original idea. At the same time, I want the painting to have room to become something I didn’t expect.
Is there something about creating by hand that feels particularly important to you?
Absolutely. I believe there is a kind of transaction that takes place between the person creating and the object. We often sense intention when we encounter another person’s work, and I’m very conscious of what I’m putting into an artwork.
I never want to paint in a stressed or completely forced state because I don’t want someone to take a little piece of my stress home with them! For that reason, I have a bit of a ritual before painting where I take a breath, reset and come back to a more authentic place.
For me, creating by hand is ultimately about connection. Your hand becomes the instrument through which that connection is made.
The Kimberley Anne Doves
Tell us about the doves you illustrated for Kimberley Anne. Where did you begin when creating them?
The doves were such a beautiful opportunity to reconnect with where my art and drawing really began. As a child I was always drawing animals, and when I first started making art seriously as an adult, it was animals again that I loved to draw and paint.
Although my practice has since moved into abstraction, drawing these doves felt like a return to the wonder of flora and fauna. It aligned so beautifully with the vision for the collection and gave me an opportunity to bring that part of my creative history into something completely new.
Why doves? What is it about their shape, movement or symbolism that you find beautiful?
For me, they are a symbol of peace, gentleness and Spirit. I also love the physicality of them - the shape of a wing, the way they move through space, and that tension between something very earthly and something that feels almost ethereal.
When you first began sketching the doves for Kimberley Anne, what were you hoping to capture in them?
A sense of wonder - something that could give another dimension of life to the textile design. There are so many beautiful prints built around floral emblems, but the dove creates a whole world within the pattern. It gives the design a sense of life and movement. I wanted the doves to feel as though they were moving freely through the textile rather than simply sitting within it.
There’s something beautifully imperfect and natural about a hand-drawn illustration. What do you think the artist’s hand brings that a perfectly rendered image cannot?
I think you can feel the evidence of a person in something made by hand. A line might wobble, change direction or be slightly unexpected, and those little decisions are what make it feel alive. You’re not just looking at an image anymore, you’re encountering someone’s way of seeing. I think that’s what gives a handmade object its soul.
Jour
You’ve now launched Jour. What is Jour, and what inspired you to create it?
Jour really grew out of my own experience with journaling. There was a time in my life when I was burnt out, not sleeping well and feeling quite trapped in fulltime architecture and in my own circumstances. I started journaling very simply by writing down whatever was on top - “I feel anxious”, “I’m trapped”, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Eventually, those pages became somewhere I could create scenarios, imagine different possibilities and dream a little beyond what felt immediately possible. Some of those imagined possibilities became real possibilities- such as my art career. Journaling became my still moment in a spinning and spiralling world - a place to dream, process and map a way forward.
By the time I met Jayde, I was at a point where I could really see the fruit of that practice. I can genuinely say that journaling changed my life. Jayde had a similar desire to journal but couldn’t find a journal she genuinely felt inspired to use every day. So we started talking about what that could look like, and Jour grew from there - a beautiful, intentional space that makes you actually want to sit down and write.
In a world that has become increasingly digital, what do you think we gain from slowing down, putting pen to paper and keeping a journal?
It’s a lifeline. There’s something about putting pen to paper that creates a reset and slows my mind - a place to release what’s taking up space in your mind, but also somewhere to dream, plan and take intentional steps towards the life you want to live.
In such a noisy digital world, journaling gives you back a little bit of agency. It’s a place to hear your own voice and remember that you have choices about how you live.
Do your practices of architecture, drawing and journaling influence one another?
Completely. I don’t think I could do either architecture or art in the same way without the practice of journaling.
Journaling is where I process ideas before they become anything else. It helps me notice what I’m thinking, what I’m drawn towards and what I might want to explore. Architecture, art and journaling all involve observing, questioning, mapping possibilities and then making something from them.
What do you hope someone feels when they open Jour and begin using it?
I hope it feels like a place to exhale. We wanted Jour to be beautiful enough that you actually want to return to it, but ultimately it’s not about the journal itself. It’s about creating the space to write your story, work out what matters to you and make choices from there. The art and quality craftsmanship facilitate that.
Ultimately, I hope someone feels a little more clear, grounded and empowered to live according to what matters most to them.
Can you provide a link to where we can find your Jour journals?
You can find Jour at www.jourstudios.com.au and on instagram @jour.studios
Life & Creativity
What does a beautifully creative day look like to you?
For me, it starts with the things that recalibrate me - whether it be movement, morning Mass, meditation or journaling. Then hopefully I’m in the studio, or somewhere outside drawing and experimenting with no particular outcome in mind.
My favourite days are the ones where I look up and realise I’ve completely lost track of time. I’ve been working for hours and haven’t thought about emails, deadlines or what I’m supposed to be doing next. There’s something very restorative about having nowhere else to be and simply following the thread of curiosity. Its almost pure play and delight, taking me right back to those days for drawing as a child for hours on end.
What are you currently drawing, designing, reading or dreaming about?
I’m dreaming about an upcoming art retreat in South Korea, where I’ll have a week dedicated to simply making. I’m really looking forward to having that uninterrupted space to see what comes out of me.
I’m currently reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, which has been fascinating for its exploration of the heart, human nature, faith and the tensions within us. I think those questions are things I want to continue exploring in my art.
I’m also designing the Jour 2027 planner and its artwork, while continuing to work on some beautiful architectural homes in the Northern Rivers, NSW.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to make creativity a bigger part of their life?
What you make room for will grow.
Create boundaries around creativity because it is easy to let the demands of other people and other parts of life take over that space. I can feel the difference when I’ve allowed the demands of life to encroach on that precious creative time - it only creates frustration.
And I think it’s important to allow creativity to be a lifelong journey. I want my best work to be at the end of my life because it has taken my whole life to make it. The long game, choosing depth and growth over instant perfection and constant output, is difficult, humbling and, I think, ultimately much more rewarding.
What does living creatively mean to you?
For me, it’s about paying attention, staying curious and noticing what is beautiful, what I’m drawn to and what keeps catching my eye. I think we are all creative in different ways because we see things differently, and that creativity is a gift we’re given.
Living creatively is, in part, making space for that gift - giving yourself the time and freedom to explore what you see and make something from it, and then allowing that to be shared with other people. It doesn’t have to be important or impressive. I think there’s something really beautiful about simply bringing a little more of what is uniquely yours into the world.
Discover Megan's Jour Journals at jourstudios.com.au and her art at Megan Cochran Art | Australian Abstract Artist