Long before she became a canvas for fashion designers, model Cara Grogan worked on her own canvasses. The Melbourne native now has a chance to show off her hitherto unknown artistic talent in an exhibition at Lucky Brand Jeans' IFC shop. A painting and two sketches by Grogan (below) join other works in an in-store display of Hong Kong talent that went up yesterday.

'These are actually artworks that I created a while back,' Grogan said. Before being discovered by modelling agents, she was all set to be an art school major and even sold a series of four paintings after high school. 'It was sold for something like A$250 (HK$1,250), which is not a lot of money, really. I usually paint when I am sad. There is one painting I did when I first came to Hong Kong ... I was all alone in my apartment and feeling a bit lonely. I haven't created any more work in a while, probably because I have been very happy.'

These days, she's too concerned about her family back in Australia to pick up a brush. 'It's horrible,' she said of the bush fires. 'Although our family farm is not so close [to the fires], if the wind changes it can be quite worrying. My mum and dad live in the Gold Coast, but most of my family from my father's side live in Victoria. It's just nerve-wracking.'