ISLAND LIFE

When Samantha Hernan was at school, she was torn between a career in nursing or art.

Her parents gently steered her towards nursing – a move the now 47-year-old is thankful for as she loves her full-time role at the Royal Hobart Hospital’s Neonatal and Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

But the talented artist has also found a way to satisfy her creative side, volunteering her time to paint murals at the hospital and nearby Ronald McDonald House.

“I basically put myself through nursing working in bars and doing a lot of murals and chalkboards around Hobart for pubs and cafes,” Hernan explains.

“And because I work at the hospital there are lots of fundraisers and raffles so I’ve always volunteered a picture when people have needed something.”

Several years ago she painted a mural on a large glass wall in the NPICU. It was so popular it has become a tradition, with the mural updated regularly for Christmas and other special events.

When Hernan, from New Town, heard Ronald McDonald House was renovating its communal living space, she volunteered her services. The result is a colourful Alice in

Wonderland- inspired scene (pictured), which Hernan recently completed in 45 hours, stretched over a three-month period on her days off.

She says many families she meets at the Royal are far from home and spend months living at Ronald McDonald House while their children are in hospital, so it was nice to do something to brighten their days.

“I’ve had so much joy doing this painting,” she says of her Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

“And I’ve been overwhelmed by the response … people really appreciate what I’m doing.”