Shift Stirrers – Jenny Croom – Paint like a 5 year old
In this episode, we sit down with Jenny Croom, winner of Australia's first Portrait Artist of the Year competition in 2025. Recording in her beautiful home on the lakes, surrounded by her paintings, Jenny takes us through her journey from painting window ledges in her husband's dark electronics shop to winning a national competition and having her work hang in the National Portrait Gallery. We discover how returning to Australia after four years in Germany awakened her need to capture our brilliant light, why she "paints like a five-year-old" to start every canvas, and how stepping away from art during family life didn't end her creative journey - it just delayed it. Jenny's warmth, wisdom, and radical honesty about being the oldest contestant ("my future's a lot shorter than the others!") reveals how age, sacrifice, and staying playful can lead to unexpected triumph. This one's for anyone who's ever had to put their passion aside and wondered if it's too late to pick it back up.
Thank you so much for listening to The Shift Stirrers podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode, please hit that follow button so you'll get notified whenever we release new content. We'd love to hear from you—feel free to reach out at theshiftstirrers@gmail.com, or you can find our individual email addresses and websites in the show notes below. We love questions.
You can also connect with us on Instagram @shiftstirrers.
If you found value in today's conversation, we'd be incredibly grateful if you could leave us a review or rating on your podcast platform. It really helps others discover the show. And if you know someone who would benefit from this episode, please share it with them.
Until next time, keep stirring things up.
Ah just a quick disclaimer - Michelle and Rosemary are not experts in any of the discussions today. We present this podcast in the interest of getting curious about change.
You can purchase Rosemary's books on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0FS275RHJ
Our other contacts
theshiftstirrers@gmail.com
https://rosemarypattisonart.com/
https://michellebenson.com.au/
https://www.instagram.com/rosemarypattisonart/
https://www.instagram.com/michelle_benson_art/
Music by Sound Designer Erin Krejany
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-krejany-186829355
Thank you so much for listening to The Shift Stirrers podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode, please hit that follow button so you'll get notified whenever we release new content. We'd love to hear from you—feel free to reach out at theshiftstirrers@gmail.com, or you can find our individual email addresses and websites in the show notes below. We love questions.
You can also connect with us on Instagram @shiftstirrers.
If you found value in today's conversation, we'd be incredibly grateful if you could leave us a review or rating on your podcast platform. It really helps others discover the show. And if you know someone who would benefit from this episode, please share it with them.
Until next time, keep stirring things up.
Ah just a quick disclaimer - Michelle and Rosemary are not experts in any of the discussions today. We present this podcast in the interest of getting curious about change.
You can purchase Rosemary's books on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0FS275RHJ
Our other contacts
theshiftstirrers@gmail.com
