Bleached: Laura Jones's hope for the reef

The artist says her undeniably sad portraits of bleached coral on the Great Barrier Reef are about resilience: 'It's not a fragile delicate flower " it's so important to be optimistic and do what we can to protect it'

Laura Jones is pained by the delicate balance she wants to strike. Her paintings of coral bleaching are going to be engulfing, immersive and undeniably sad. But she wants them to express hope and resilience, too.

It's something she keeps coming back to before, during and after I visit her studio, where she is preparing a major exhibition.