Ripe and Ready

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Born in England and educated in the system finishing with 2 years at the Nottingham School Of Art. 18 months as a window dresser and fishing the rest of my working life as a Childenswear Designer. First for three companies in England then 16 years for Bonds-wear in Sydney. After all that I returned to art in 1980 taking lessons with Des Connor. In 1986 We (as our son put it) ran away from home to live on out H28 yacht for 8 years. During this time I painted portraits of other Yatchtie's boats and also lots of beaches etc. I also began a love affair with lighthouses and paint them whenever I can get a new reference. Being very detailed and slow with my art means all of my paintings are done from either my own or my son's or husbands photos unless it is a commission. The reason I decided to paint in watercolour was due to the fact that I knew we were planning to move onto a small boat and there would be no practical way I could use oil or pastel. When we moved ashore in 1994 I continued painting in watercolour but somewhere about 2002 I began taking classes with Jan Long and was absolutely gob smacked at the speed with which my art work improved. I learned so much over the ensuing years and owe so much to the time I spent learning form Jan. I became a member of the Bairnsdale and District Arts Society which was a very good move as Got to know a lot of very nice like minded people and after a while went on their committee and was vice president for a few years. A while back when we were discussing art shows etc I said I had a dream about an art show called 'Glorious Gippsland' and the committee said lets do it and as it is your idea you can be boss lady. This was certainly a learning curve and I now know just how much effort goes into organizing an Art Show but the rewards are great. I did this Job for 2 shows then our president Gael Rand took over for two more years and then Covid put a stop to al that.