Ancestors at Dusk Dreamscape of a Nymphs Nap

This body of work began as an act of reclamation. I wanted to return to pleasure as a guiding force within my practice and to quiet the voice of the inner critic. What emerged is a meditation on time; the evolution of self, the gratitude, touched by grief, for what is no longer but lives forever in tender memory.
Throughout the works, images of antiquity are paired with still life. Classical references converse with blooms and domestic objects, creating a dialogue between permanence and impermanence in a flexible category where still life becomes figurative; figuration slips into abstraction, curiosity replaces certainty. Underpaintings remain visible, peeking through watery veils. In this way, the surface mirrors the evolution of the self — an accumulation of time, experiences, identities, and revisions. I see myself as a vessel traveling through time, continuously reshaped by what moves through me.

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Hello and welcome to my Bluethumb page.
I was born and raised in Byron Bay. I was a child and then grew and continued under the title ‘artist’ -always striving to create as freshly and honestly as my own children.
Aside from painting and drawing, which I mostly focus on these days, I have spent 35 years training as a dancer (in the techniques of ballet, contemporary, and butoh amongst others), working as an actor and director in theatre and I am also a trained Doula and Shiatsu practitioner. The weaving together of these strands, visual, performance, Women's work and healing, is the background of who I am and what I want to say as an artist. I love the body, movement, nature- particularly my native flora and exploring concepts of 'Woman'. I don’t take myself too seriously and I’m interested in unpretentious art that is both profound but doesn’t either.
I work with layers; of medium, imagery and colour. This building up and sometimes stripping back, finally arrives at 'completion' with a sense of gathered history, a journey, that the piece has lived and is alive. Loose and expressive line, can cross intuitive chunks and screens of colour, and settle into fine and detailed botanical meditations. The work breathes, in and out, loose and tight, like nature, like a human, and like both, it contains the mess and imperfection of life that defies the expected with beauty.
I work mostly with acrylic, charcoal, and oils, on linen, canvas and board. I work always with loud, good music. All this currently takes place in my home studio, looking over my garden in Mullumbimby NSW.
My aim, if I consciously choose to name it, is to create something that holds energy, an emotion that can be felt physically, that speaks to the inner world of the viewer. It is both deeply personal and shares inclusively an experience of separation-less-ness. An image that is honest and unapologetic, I trust will bring inspiration, power and perhaps medicine to those who live with them.
I received some secondary training at the College of Fine Arts in Paddington, Sydney, then some self training in a cold/sweaty warehouse in Northcote, Melbourne, and continue to self train now back in Mullumbimby. Growth never stops!
I look forward to hearing from you and hope you find enjoyment in the work.
R