I am an Australian artist working in all media—my favourites being charcoal, watercolour, graphite, pen and ink.

I have been involved in art for all of my life in some form or another since the age of 4 or 5. My early memories are of collecting any scraps of clean white paper to draw on, from the cardboard inside shirt boxes to a roll of butcher’s paper given to me by a generous relative. This memory stays with me; I still love the look of fresh white paper. 

Art has been a constant part of my life since those early years and drawing, in particular, has remained a favourite. 

I was primarily self taught until I achieved a diploma in Design Fundamentals to successfully gain entry into a Visual Arts degree at university. I have worked as an assistant animator for Hanna-Barbera, then worked for a number of years with Burbank Studios, a company specialising in full-length animated feature films for television (such as Wind in the Willows and other classics). I also did some freelance work for Disney, which to me was the realisation of a childhood dream.

I have won awards both locally and internationally and have had my work published in international publications and also here in Australia.

Some career highlights include:

• being accepted as a participating artist into the ‘Art Journey – Portraits and  Figures’ hardcover book, an international publication produced by  the American  publisher North Light  Books. The book is a collection of portraits, chosen from submissions by artists from all over the world.

• appearing in the French publication “The Art of Watercolour” magazine

• being chosen as a featured artist in the Australian Artist Magazine

• my work “The Vanishing#2” being chosen to appear in “Splash 21”, another  publication by North Light Books, released in late 2020. This piece  also featured  on the cover of ‘The Best of Watercolor’ publication in the USA.

I love to paint and draw portraits of both people and animals; I find them to be some of the most challenging subjects but also the most rewarding. To capture the essence of someone or something in a painting or drawing is extremely satisfying. It is the nuance of expression or emotion that I search to find, capture and communicate.
The connection we have to our environment and one another is what drives my work at the moment. It tends to cross the boundaries between realism and impressionism. I like to take everyday subjects and ask people to see them a little differently. My motivation comes from emotion, both mine and those of the subjects I choose.

I work with any media that I feel adds to the subject. I have recently been combining graphite, charcoal, watercolour and pastel in my work to explore untraditional uses of traditional media—again, to add elements of the unexpected to common images. It is challenging and also satisfying to be able to get the subject to tell their story through painting or drawing, and to engage the viewer.

I am currently working on a series of paintings of endangered animals which allows me to combine art with something else close to my heart—conservation. Through my current work on endangered species, I was invited to become a signature member of the Artists for Conservation in Vancouver, Canada. I have donated both originals and signed limited-edition prints to help raise money for conservation projects both here in Australia and overseas. I am particularly involved in the conservation of our iconic koala population, as they and their habitat are both under threat.

 I am very proud to say that some of my work has been used in literature and posters for conservation rallies across the state to raise awareness of the plight of some of our endangered animals, particularly our precious koalas.

I work from my studio in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, and am happy to accept commissions in watercolour, graphite, charcoal or pen and ink. I am also happy to run classes or demonstrations for art societies. I enjoy teaching, and have found this to be a most rewarding part of my artistic pursuits.

Please feel free to browse, send me an email, or message me on Facebook if you are interested in any of my work. Go to my contacts page or  just click the Facebook link on my Home page, to send me a message.