I was born in Sydney. I have lived, studied and worked for extended periods in Spain and France. After living abroad and completing Language Diplomas at both the Sorbonne and the University of Sevilla, I completed a double degree in Spanish at UNSW. I have worked as a University Lecturer in Spanish for many years and most recently as an Educational Management Consultant and Executive Coach. I currently reside in Sydney with my husband Gordon. My adult children have flown the coop.
I started painting in 2008 as an escape from illness. I thought it would be great if I could do just one thing for a few hours that didn’t drain me and gave me some distraction and pleasure.
During this class I began a piece of work called Constellations. I was pleased with it and I got very positive feedback and compliments on this piece of work.
I was off! I was hooked.
What started as an activity to help me manage chronic illness became a whole story of it’s own. My own experience is that, beyond any doubt, art heals.I approach every piece of work with “beginner’s mind” – it doesn’t matter what I do because I can use every mark - planned and accidental. There is no such thing as a mistake. Every mistake is a drop of learning. Every mark is important and affects the story of the other marks. This has proven to become a very interesting, free, layering process which I still use.
When I’m painting everything else takes a back seat. Painting has brought me flow and freedom in a way that nothing else has. I work in acrylic and mixed media, fascinated by the interplay of texture, structure, colour and line. My works are crafted through an intuitive, felt sense of design and structure, spontaneous markings, textured, worn and scratched surfaces and multiple layerings in acrylic paint, charcoal, oil stick and other mixed media.