Artist Statement

I love this place I call home. I enjoy the year round warmth of the climate here along with the challenges and many rewards of my northern Australian location. It provides me with a constant source of inspiration and the “blank canvas” I need to observe and understand my place in the world and the people with whom I share it.

Watercolour is my medium of choice…a medium that [I believe] can be as demanding and temperamental as those who choose to paint with it!  Whilst watercolour can be coaxed and manipulated, the true beauty of the medium lies in its unexpected magic. Dramatic effects can be conjured up from a puddle of water with a judicious choice of pigments…and smooth washes can be achieved even without the use of a brush!

The traditional approach has always been fluid with subtle use of colour and tone…but modern watercolour engages the medium in a more controlled context, delivering images with colour clarity and impact like never before.

I have been painting in this medium for quite a few years now but there are days when the paints still puts me well and truly in my place. Complacency is never an option.  But a healthy dose of rebellion never hurt anyone… and can sometimes pay surprising dividends (especially in watercolour).  Like everything in life… it’s when we’re risking “everything” that serendipitous discoveries are made and invaluable lessons learned.

I have been lucky enough to have studied with a number of terrific artists here in Australia, in New Zealand and in the United States.

These experiences have helped with the getting of watercolour knowledge and wisdom…built confidence in my own work…and strengthened my resolve to just keep at it!

Over consecutive years I have exhibited in the Sydney Royal Easter Show and The Courier Mail Art Awards. My paintings have been pre-selected annually into the nationally contested Cairns Art Society Annual Exhibition and received Highly Commended Awards in 2003 and 2007. Other exhibitions have included the Innisfail Art Society Annual Exhibitions,  Feast of the Senses Exhibitions, and the curated exhibition Force of Circumstance based on the works of Somerset Maugham… and I’ve pretty much forgotten the rest.

A past member of the Whitfield Art Group… I hold current (ever so silent) membership of the Cairns Art Society and the Royal Queensland Art Society on the Gold Coast.

I am also a Founding Patron of the Cairns Regional Gallery which opened it’s doors to the delight of art lovers everywhere in 1995.