I've been an artist since the day I was born, just like every human being. I had moments through life where it was suppressed or ignored but life always came back to art. I didn't really start coming in to my own until my daughter was 2 and I discovered face painting, and from there body painting, and pregnant belly painting. That became my passion for many years but there was still something missing, a yearning within me, this unfulfilled void. That's when I pulled out my 10 year old acrylic paints, bought an easel and some pre-stretched canvas' and began painting again. My husband introduced me to Bob Ross and my mind was blown. It inspired me to begin nurturing my art. I tried the wet-on-wet oil painting style but oils have never been my medium. I tried doing similar with acrylics and it works to a point and that was fun however 'reality' isn't really my thing either. I was always a fan of Salvador Dali and went on an excursion when I was in Year 11 to see his work when it toured Australia. Best day ever! As much as I do adore surrealism, apparently I'm no good at it!
Then I discovered LifeBook with Tamara LePorte and all multitude of artists you get to learn from each week in a year long adventure. I learned so much about mixed media and all the different mediums during my 3 years of participation and built up a pretty decent supply of mixed media products. I worried for a long time that I wouldn't find my own voice. That I was just an imitator. I didn't want to be an imitator. I wanted to take all the different styles and techniques I had learned and use them to create my own voice.
There was a point in this journey where I caught myself saying "I can't draw faces" and "I can't draw humanoid things" and I stopped myself. One of my face and body art mentors that I'd had the pleasure of meeting and learning from in my career, and who had recently passed away from cancer had left a lot of messages and advice in my head and one of the things that popped in to my head when I caught myself saying what I couldn't draw, was that it takes you drawing something 1000 times before you can be classed as an expert. So my challenge began. I decided that's it! I am going to learn how to draw faces and bodies. So I did with the help of Jane Davenport and various other artists through the LifeBook journey in particular Tamara herself. I absolutely love her whimsical style. To date I'm still only in the 300 range of faces. I haven't kept an exact record but I do have some of my first faces to look back on and see how far I have become.
Now I actually really love drawing faces and I'm not so scared of drawing bodies, or mermaids or faeries with humanoid features. Not all of my art is purely on canvas or with paint. I am definitely mixed media though, I love to use acrylics, watercolours, alcohol inks, polyclay, wire, paper flowers, etc. I also enjoy putting messages on my art somewhere, even if it's hidden underneath the layers. One of my most favourite mediums to use will always be copic, however I'm very precious with them and will only use them sometimes and the art comes out more like an illustration rather than the slapdash method I use when I get in and do mixed media.
Right now I'm a mother of 3, I'm still working as a face and body artist and am currently going to Uni in order to hopefully begin my first real career as a Transpersonal Art Therapist and I'm absolutely loving it! I hope you love my art and want to support my passions by buying from me! :D