I began painting with oils when someone gave me a box for Christmas, the year I turned 18. I loved drawing and rendering as a child. I went to a group on a Tuesday night to learn how to use them - run by a lady by the name of Roma Paddick. I later went to study art, and in 1985 qualified as an Art Teacher, my career primarily as a 9-12 Visual Communication Design (was Graphic Communication) Teacher with a Bachelor of Art and Craft, Secondary from Melb... After 30 years, I retired from the Classroom. I have kept painting to myself as my sacred pleasure.
Teaching full-time and bringing up 3 sons, now all parents themselves, hasvebeen my longtime roles. I have amassed a large volume of artworks. Infact, I put so much heart into them, they too have become my children. I had 2 successful exhibitions some 12 years ago when I took a break from teaching but went back to teaching when the GFC struck. I'm no self-promoter and when teaching took over again, the walls filled up with art as this is my 'happy place'. I have no influences although people will say that is like...... .
I paint for pure pleasure and paint to explore concepts, giving myself abstract challenges, visual contradictions to resolve and over time have produced a a number of series such as the washing machine series - fire/elements series - ocean/coastal - bush and the elementals - rural landscapes - but I don't limit myself to oil painting. I love that medium as the ultimate challenge and keep going back to it as a benchmark. Naturalism, impressionism, abstraction, narrative, spiritual and contemporary styles are all explored. I also have spells where illustration using pencil / watercolour / conte / and digital art/photography challenge me. I don't have one style but people can pick my work anyway.
I just love to work in a range of emotive fields, exploring passion, serenity, love, seasons, forces of nature, and I have even written and illustrated two books. One known as Emotive Fields and the other known as Wisdom Warrior [in Australia] and [Wisdom Seed] distributed overseas. They both battle imagery with words, and at times words fall short, while at other times, imagery allows the mind to run free and quite often they mutually empower each other.
Since I retired I became a Rotarian at Casey and spend quite a bit of time in service to the community, but I still paint- it's my happy place. I am also an Ascension Reiki Master and lead Meditation groups.
I will gradually add my series to this site to share what has been to me, a lifetime of pure pleasure - away from the 'every day', my sacred space. It's where I go - I create - I ground my reality - where peace and tranquility are never too far away.
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