I was born in Geelong Victoria when there were still paddocks at the end of the street. An old white mare would munch on a polished apple and nudge me for another from the leather satchel made by my uncle who was an upholsterer for the Melbourne Tramways.
In that satchel was a set of twelve much-loved Derwent pencils that was the beginnings of my fascination with colour. I must have been about eight at the time and drawing was my passion. Beginning with copying cartoon characters and progressing to detailed drawings of birds.
In secondary school, I had the great fortune to have three very good art teachers, who were not only there to set projects but paved the way to interpret life through art, to question society and the norms that surround us by appreciating art.
From there, I attended the Gordon Institute of Technology, studying fine art, a pure unrelenting blissful emersion in painting and drawing, with abstraction taking lead in how I saw the world.
From a very single-minded long-haired artist in paint-splattered overalls, typical of the late ’70s, and without a great deal of thought or preamble, I took a detour into teaching, Jungian therapy, corporate work and parenting, to wake up ten years later realizing that something was missing and the true north bearing of earlier years had gone adrift. While continuing to work as a counsellor, I started to rectify my error and recover my earlier passion for colour. I visited central Australia, regularly going to Uluru in silent retreat just to soak up and be revitalized by the presence and colour of that environment. There is an aliveness and vitality in the outback that influences the way that I interpret life and art and is currently gaining expression through life drawing but is also instilled in my paintings.