Esmae Bowen (nee Ford) was born in Hopevale, 1956. She is inspired by the forms and colours she sees in the environment and her love of plants.
Esmae often paints baby lady apples (also called bush apples) at the time just before the flower grows into fruit. Lady apples only fruit in the early part of the wet season. For Esmae, they remind her of Christmas spent at the beach in her childhood.