My dream as a child was to become an artist but upon leaving school I was sent off to Underwoods Business College to ensure I had a ‘sensible’ career. Following completion of the year with high marks, I worked at UWA Speech and Music Department for a year but found it unrewarding. I then set off on a ten-year sojourn of travel around Australia, New Zealand, the Mediterranean, Israel, Ireland, UK and Europe. I landed back in WA to the Gascoyne region where I spent six months prospecting for gold and then lay roots in Dampier where I lived for the next seven years.
Throughout that time I was always searching, however, never quite sure what it was I was looking for. Following on from my childhood dream, over the years I undertook multiple courses in drawing, water-colour painting, silk painting, textiles and even a full year of design at TAFE. I fully embraced each and every course and absolutely loved the solace I gained from getting in touch with my creative side, however, by this stage there was a mortgage, a wonderful family and every day life helped me to decide to put my dreams on hold.
Luckily around fifteen years ago after six months of reflection, I made the decision that it was definitely time to go back to basics of who and what I am –an artist. As my childhood dreams and aspirations had not changed but had only become stronger, I commenced painting classes and devoted my time to developing my own unique style. I have been extremely lucky to have such inspirational teachers who are very good at encouraging their students to develop their own individual style. I found myself spending hours in my spare time at home painting. Mostly with oils but acrylics also, I literally discovered my soul’s calling and found I didn’t want to do anything else. At last I had found my niche. It's been a wonderful journey and very rewarding. In 2016 I won the Ellenbrook Art Award for painting which was literally a dream come true!
My artistic approach: The thoughts and ideas are gathered from colourful memories taken from the tapestry of my life; so there’s an endless stream to draw upon. Settling on one image can be inspired from a mood, particular colour palette, from nature or something that’s triggered me to recall a memory or feeling.