Lyn Watts Living on a sheep, cattle and wheat property as a child, was the beginning of my love of drawing horses. On a few occasions whilst in class I would discreetly copy the works of Albert Namatjira that were displayed around the walls. I discovered I could do a beautiful copy and would take the works home to proudly show my mother. She was not impressed and thought I should perhaps put in more effort doing my schoolwork. My grandmother was a beautiful oil painter and on numerous occasions I would sit quietly and copy her works as well. I did notice how beautifully she painted animals with perfect light and composition.
It wasn't until my children were in primary school that I began my art career in earnest. In 1993 I saw paintings made from bark from the Melaleuca tree and various natural fibres. I completed a number of art in bark courses at Tafe which was the beginning of my love of this medium. I entered in many art shows to win Champion Art in Bark on numerous occasions. On a number of occasions I took out Champion of Show with a bark painting competing against all mediums. I was particularly grateful for the weekly lessons from renowned bark artist Danny Zam. Danny could also paint in other mediums and had a great knowledge of composition , contrast etc to which he passed onto his students. In 2003, I decided to try out painting in other mediums so joined the Wednesday Art Group where I had weekly lessons with artist Harry Hart. Harry rarely used a brush, so pouring paint, scrapping with different objects and blowing inks were the norm. Harry's influence can still be seen in my artwork .
I have continued learning as I have completed numerous McGregor Art Schools and weekend courses. 2004 summer school with Catherine Parker,, 2006 - Jeff Le Gurge, 2007 - Brain Allison, 2009 - Val Johnson, 2011 - Don Milner, 2015 - Chris Postle, 2018 - Chris Postle, 2020 Chris Postle week-end course, 2012 winter school - Maryika Welter. I recently completed a day course with top 10 Australian artist Gary Myers.